The Madrid Court returns the passport to Begoña Gómez, but supports that she be judged by a popular jury for embezzlement

MadridRelevant decision by the Provincial Court of Madrid regarding the case affecting Begoña Gómez. For weeks, the Spanish government had been awaiting its pronouncement to curb the instructor judge, Juan Carlos Peinado, and finally, the decision arrived this Thursday. What has the chamber decided? The Provincial Court orders the withdrawal of precautionary measures and the return of her passport, but upholds that she be tried by a popular jury for the crimes of embezzlement and influence peddling. It does declare the dismissal of the other two crimes for which Peinado was prosecuting Gómez: corruption in business and misappropriation.

Therefore, the Provincial Court of Madrid, which had been deliberating in full since last Monday due to the significance of the decision, has determined that the case against the Spanish president's wife should be maintained. It modifies Peinado's instructions —annulling the withdrawal of precautionary measures and delimiting the crimes— but upholds that she be seated on the defendant's bench for embezzlement and influence peddling and be tried by a popular jury. In addition to Begoña Gómez, the prosecution of Cristina Álvarez, advisor to the president's wife at Moncloa, also moves forward, solely for a crime of embezzlement and via popular jury; and, conversely, it separates the businessman Carlos Barrabés from the case and determines that he be investigated through an abbreviated procedure regarding the legality or not of public contract awards.