At the beginning of April 2024, few people knew Juan Carlos Peinado. His name rose to fame when on April 24th it became known that he had opened a case against Begoña Gómez, the wife of Pedro Sánchez, following a complaint from Manos Limpias. A decision that led to the five days of reflection during which the Spanish president considered resigning, although in the end he decided to continue. Last Monday, five days before his retirement—this Saturday the BOE already publishes his forced retirement at 72 years of age—, the controversial judge put the finishing touch on his career by sending Begoña Gómez to trial before a jury for influence peddling and embezzlement.

To no one's surprise, Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has been sent to trial for embezzlement and influence peddling.It is the news of the day and, at the same time, it was already taken for granted. You know what happens when the episodes of a series are coming to an end, when the writers drown the protagonists with an accumulation of problems? Well, here we are: the Spanish legislature has months left, and Aznar's watchword of “Whoever can do, let them do” is working at full speed. Note that the judge who is sending Sánchez's wife to trial, the judge Juan Carlos Peinado, is retiring next week. He is leaving through the front door, with a big game trophy. Because one thing is that Begoña Gómez has to answer to the law like everyone else, but not everyone is answering to the law in the same way. Carlos Mazón, with hundreds of deaths on his conscience, continues to collect a deputy's salary. It would be touching if it were not pathetic to hear yesterday on TVE a minister of Sánchez, Óscar López, acknowledging that at the beginning of the 'Procés', he did not understand what was happening, and that now he understands everything.

I open Ara.cat and the first thing I see are two headlines that, juxtaposed, are even more eloquent than when read separately. “Peinado sends Begoña Gómez to trial for embezzlement and influence peddling”, says the one in the report signed by Núria Orriols Guiu. “Mazón shrugs off responsibility and refuses to give new explanations in Congress regarding the DANA”, says the one in the news story signed by Andrea Zamorano.Beyond dealing with the bituminous Spanish politics, both share the common element of duty fulfilled. Judge Peinado, having become an icon of justice placed at the service of political interests that would not escape the understanding of even a child, retires on Sunday and did not want to do so without having carried out the objective he had set for himself (and, we can also understand it this way, to which he had committed himself): to bring the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to trial for a completely invented case that has had one of the most bizarre and ridiculous journeys in Spanish justice in the last ten years (and that is saying a lot). He has done it just as he wanted: with a popular jury, in order to increase the possibility of a guilty verdict. The family in prison: Begoña Gómez, David Sánchez and, if possible, Pedro Sánchez in person. In his case, for being a traitor to Spain. This is the current wet dream of the Spanish right, a maximum revenge against imaginary grievances. It is the same right that from time to time feels the need to save Spain, even if it means destroying the rule of law or, directly, a few hundred thousand citizens as happened during the Civil War and the dictatorship. And it is, also, the scrupulous realization of Aznar's mandate: whoever can do, let them do. Surely, Peinado will not have a reward because henchmen usually do not get one, beyond a few pats on the back. And the satisfaction of duty fulfilled.Mazón also did his duty, enduring the scandal of the disastrous management of the DANA on October 29, 2024, and the 230 deaths caused by his government's negligence, without resigning, without calling elections, and facilitating an easy transition with his second-in-command, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, so that the management of the thirty billion of the Reconstruction Plan would remain in the hands of the PP and his government. In return, he has been left with an ex-president's salary, a seat in the Valencian Courts where he can go to take a nap if he feels like it, and a full exoneration from the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Country that Mazón flaunted this Monday at his appearance in Congress as if it were a license to kill. And which aborted the investigation by the judge of Catarroja, at least until Mazón loses his parliamentary immunity. The inept and lying man has a reward and protection; the woman who, as far as we know, has done nothing punishable but is married to the wrong political leader, runs the risk of being convicted; the judge who pursues her has the applause of the neo-Francoist horde. The juxtaposition explains well, indeed, the moment of degradation of politics and justice in which we find ourselves.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado sends the wife of the Spanish Prime Minister, Begoña Gómez, to trial. Thus ends more than two years of judicial investigation, directly questioned by the Spanish government and, at times, by the judiciary itself. This Monday, a few days before his retirement, Judge Peinado issued the final indictment to have Gómez sit in the dock for crimes of embezzlement and influence peddling. The Spanish Prime Minister's wife will be tried by a popular jury, nine citizens of Madrid chosen at random, and, depending on the calendar, it could take place in parallel with the 2027 general elections.

After the holidays and a resumption of the political term marked by the Ceuta crisis, the courts return to the forefront of current events. This week, Pedro Sánchez will see two executives from Plus Ultra, the manager of the PSOE, and the former director of the Civil Guard file through the National Court in the two investigations that have gained the most momentum in recent weeks and which could shake him the most: those of the Leire Díez and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero cases. What is expected to happen in the coming days and weeks?

An “anti-party” that “does not align with any ideology” and rejects the “regime of 78” is responsible for the National High Court investigating the massive entry of migrants into Ceuta and that, in parallel, a court in Madrid has opened a criminal case regarding the purchase of the luxury penthouse for Isabel Díaz Ayuso. It is Iustitia Europa, a group known for intervening as popular prosecution in judicial cases involving the PSOE environment and which will make the leap to general elections in 2027. “We are transversal and we defend that the solution to corruption must come from civil society. After almost fifty years, we have a serious problem in Spain and we must move away from left-wing and right-wing ideologies,” defends its president, Luis María Pardo, in conversation with ARA.

After the Madrid Court has endorsed that she be tried by a popular jury –although two charges against him have been dropped and his passport returned– and that Hazte Oír has requested thirteen years in prison for her, Begoña Gómez shakes up the board and, according to sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ARA, has decided to change lawyers. In this way, she dismisses the lawyer who has defended her throughout the entire two-year investigation, Antonio Camacho, and signs Jaime Campaner, who is also Josep Pujol Ferrusola's lawyer.

Progressives have prevailed over conservatives on the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and, thanks to the casting vote of president Isabel Perelló, have proposed to sanction judge Juan Carlos Peinado for a minor offense of disrespect for having suggested that Begoña Gómez's escorts could help her flee. The informational proceedings were opened a month ago and already at that first moment the CGPJ was divided because the conservative members alleged that reviewing the judge's words on precautionary measures was not within the CGPJ's competence. Initially, there was a possible serious offense on the table, but it has finally been reduced to minor. This stalemate of positions, which hindered the first attempt to reach an agreement, has been maintained until the end, but Perelló's casting vote – as in the initial vote – has broken the tie. The final say will lie with the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, which will now have to decide whether to sanction the judge or not: it can issue a warning, impose a fine of up to 500 euros, or apply both penalties.

Almost every week a new indictment appears related – more directly or indirectly – to the PSOE. The latest name to emerge is Juan Manuel Serrano, who was president of Correos from 2018 to 2023 and director of Pedro Sánchez's cabinet at Ferraz. His name joins a long list of people – with different levels of responsibility – allegedly involved in fourteen open lines of investigation. The first convicted person was the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, but there are a total of 50 officials related to the Spanish government or the PSOE, members of the Civil Guard, and men who were of Sánchez's utmost confidence who have ended up before a judge. That's up to 109 if we also count the 59 businessmen, family members, and lawyers – and other profiles – indicted in the different open cases.

Relevant decision by the Provincial Court of Madrid regarding the case affecting Begoña Gómez. For weeks, the Spanish government had been awaiting its pronouncement to rein in the investigating judge, Juan Carlos Peinado, and finally, the decision arrived this Thursday. What has the chamber decided? The five magistrates order the withdrawal of precautionary measures and the return of her passport – they consider there is no "real" risk of flight because she has family ties and it was an "unfortunate" decision – but they endorse that a popular jury judge her.

Juan Carlos Peinado doubts Begoña Gómez and moves again. After Pedro Sánchez's wife flew to London to attend her daughter's graduation, which was last Friday, the judge who has been investigating her for two years and has prohibited her from leaving Spain due to risk of flight, gives her five days to prove that she used her passport only for this trip: “To require her to prove that the passport has been used for the specific purpose for which the precautionary measure was lifted,” he points out in a provision to which ARA has had access. And he adds that he wants to verify it to ensure that she has not taken “any action” that could constitute a crime of breaking a precautionary measure.

Four weeks after Pedro Sánchez arrived at Moncloa, the new Minister of Justice, Dolores Delgado, hired Antonio Viejo (Madrid, 1959) as Secretary General of the Administration of Justice. For two years, he was in charge of “driving, directing and monitoring” the “modernization, organization and distribution of human and material resources” of the justice administration and relations, for example, with the General Council of the Judiciary or the Public Prosecutor's Office. He remained in office until February 2020, after the formation of the coalition government between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos.

If the latest events of the 21st century don't have you confused or distracted, it's because you live outside of everything. And if you're still operating with 20th-century codes, you'd better get a move on, or the tsunami will catch you by surprise. Because in the midst of the era of "fake news, trying to fit what happens into the logic of reality is a useless task, as useless as trying to live without an internet connection.

Juan Carlos Peinado once again defends tooth and nail having had Begoña Gómez's passport withdrawn and preventing her from leaving Spain to avoid her fleeing. He does this in a report he has presented to the Madrid High Court in response to the appeal by Pedro Sánchez's wife's lawyers against the precautionary measures. He acts as if he hears nothing and "reaffirms and reiterates" all of them. Two days ago,another judge, who replaced him, prevented that Gómez traveled to Turkey for accompany Sánchez to the NATO summit, but it allowed him to go to London for his daughter's graduation. “This would not be the first time that a prime minister of a European Union member state has fled to an African continent country to avoid a corruption plot proceeding,” Peinado maintains in the document, to which ARA has had access.

When I imagined that love was eternal and that all couples would grow old hand in hand, not just the delicate, sweet, and admirable ones, and that one could do as in that song I liked so much ("we'll never sleep in separate beds"), the job of prime minister and wife, or queen and consort, traveling the world, going to boring events, seemed fun to me. "What a drag, today we'll inaugurate such and such a thing," I thought they must say, slyly, because they knew there would be a "dress up" for work, do it, bump into each other under the banquet table, and go to the hotel, finally, at night. Telling themselves "it's better than working."

Juan Carlos Peinado has shaken off the pressure and gone on vacation without resolving Begoña Gómez's request to be allowed to leave Spain. The judge who had to step in has ended up being Antonio Viejo Llorente, the same one investigating Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner. His decision has been not to allow Pedro Sánchez's wife to travel to Ankara to attend the NATO summit, which will be held from July 7 to 8, mainly because Turkey does not belong to the European Union and, therefore, he considers that a hypothetical extradition would be more complicated. However, he does allow her to travel to London to attend her daughter's graduation, which will be on Friday the 10th.

First consequences of the withdrawal of Begoña Gómez's passport. Pedro Sánchez's wife, who Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has provisionally withdrawn her document and prohibited her from leaving the country, has had to make a first request to the magistrate to lift the measure. In a written statement, to which ARA has had access, Gómez asks for permission to accompany Sánchez to the NATO summit to be held from July 7 to 10 in Ankara, Turkey, and also to take advantage of the trip to attend her daughter's graduation, which will be held in London.

There is a comparison between two fashionable judges who are currently making a name for themselves: José Luis Calama, who is investigating José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the National Court, and Juan Carlos Peinado, who has sent Begoña Gómez to trial after a two-year investigation. It is obvious to everyone that the way these two major media cases in which they are involved are being handled is different. Indeed, high-ranking voices from Moncloa in the corridors of Congress admit that Calama "is not" Peinado, as shown by the fact that the investigation into the former Spanish president, still in its early stages, does not have the extravagances of the indictment of Pedro Sánchez's wife. The clear distance between the two has become evident, especially in two matters: the adoption of precautionary measures and the indictment of individuals who have previously testified under oath to tell the truth. Let's go step by step.

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has opened the way to open proceedings against judge Juan Carlos Peinado, arguing that the bodyguards of the president's wife, Begoña Gómez, could help her flee. Despite the media noise, history shows that sanctioning a magistrate is almost a pipe dream. Recent examples support this: in 2024, the CGPJ ended up filing the proceedings against a judge who called the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a "psychopath", and in February 2026, the conservative majority turned a blind eye to magistrates Eloy Velasco and Manuel Ruiz de Lara, who called the president's wife "Barbigoña", invoking freedom of expression.

The school year has ended, tomorrow is the eve of Sant Joan and summer has begun in the midst of a heatwave, which reminds us that the prophecies about the consequences of climate change in Catalonia are unfortunately being fulfilled on time.And with all, today's news is not this, but that of judge Peinado, who this weekend has requested the passport from Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez. The judge considers (hold my drink) that the police escort for the Sánchez family could collaborate in an escape from Spain. See how big a mess Judge Peinado has made that this morning the CGPJ has met again to see if they open a file on him.There is no doubt that Begoña Gómez has had her passport confiscated to humiliate her and her husband, to see if she finally abandons the presidency of the Spanish government. They are after her. They want her to resign. Even more, they want her in prison. Let's see, corruption within the PSOE has already led to three of Sánchez's collaborators being imprisoned, but this is not incompatible with Sánchez being the subject of political persecution by elements of the judiciary, obedient to the Aznar-era war cry “he who can, do,” who believe they have a corporate and patriotic duty to prevent the amnesty from correcting what the Supreme Court ruled. Especially since, thanks to the amnesty, Sánchez has managed to govern despite losing the elections. And he has been president for eight years now. And it's becoming eternal for them.