Which judges are involved in politics in the State?
MadridIn a week marked by the migration debate and Alberto Núñez Feijóo's concerns about his position on the Gaza conflict, the court agenda has once again been intense. The Badajoz Court has confirmed that Pedro Sánchez's brother will go on trial for malfeasance and influence peddling; a Madrid court has opened Oral trial against Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner for tax fraud and criminal organization, among other crimes; Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has decided that Begoña Gómez be tried by a popular court for embezzlement; and, finally, the composition of the court that will try the State Prosecutor, Álvaro García Ortiz, has been confirmed.
This could have been the week horribilis Ayuso's case if it weren't for the fact that she enjoys a media ecosystem within Madrid's M-30 that protects her. She is practically alone—with Aznar and Vox—in her pro-Israeli arguments, and the court decisions regarding her partner don't affect her either. Her chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, decided to attack Judge Carmen Rodríguez-Medel for having sent the partner of the president of the Community of Madrid to trial while she was acting, emphasizing that she is "the little sister of a guy promoted by Marlaska [Minister of the Interior]" and, ultimately, that "everything." The Génova leadership timidly disavowed Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, but there has been no scandal in Madrid due to Ayuso's entourage doing the same thing that the PP so criticizes the president of the Spanish government for.
Pedro Sánchez has openly said that Judge Peinado is involved in politics. with the case he is investigating against his wife. And the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, is pressuring the General Council of the Judiciary to process the complaints he has filed against him. The problem for the State executive is that the Madrid Court of Appeals not only endorsed part of the investigation, but also paved the way for Peinado to charge Gómez and his assistant Cristina Álvarez with embezzlement.
And the Supreme Court? The Moncloa government will not publicly attack the Second Chamber, even though it believes Manuel Marchena and Pablo Llarena are not applying the amnesty out of a specific interest. The State government still trusts that the court that will try the Attorney General, despite having a Conservative majority, could declare Álvaro García Ortiz innocent, an acquittal that would restore some credibility to certain judges who practice "legal fiction," according to her colleague Ana Ferrer, for refusing to grant amnesty to the leaders.
The number two of the PP, Miguel Tellado, was one of the confirmed attendees at the presentation of the new think tank of former Vox leader Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, on Thursday in Madrid. Everything changed suddenly with the appearance of businessman Víctor de Aldama, who has been charged in the National Court. Although his advisor Tellado, who appears in Koldo García's audio recordings, was already there, he did not attend.
"What Vox wants to do with this motion is..." said ERC representative Etna Estrems in Congress on Tuesday, when suddenly something happened. It turns out she was called to speak before Vox had even presented its initiative. It was a mistake by the vice president of the chamber, Alfonso Rodríguez Gómez de Celis, who got confused with the agenda.