Spain: Pedro Sanchez remains silent before the judge and responds with a complaint

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez asserted his right to remain silent on Tuesday during his hearing by the judge investigating his &eacute ;wife, before responding with a complaint accusing the magistrate of committing “crimes” in his investigations.

The highly anticipated hearing of the socialist leader — in the official residence of the head of government — ultimately lasted only a few minutes.

Summoned as a witness in the “influence peddling” section of the investigation also opened for corruption and targeting his wife Begoña Gómez, Pedro Sánchez had the right not to answer the questions of Judge Juan Carlos Peinado: Spanish law allows citizens to remain silent when an investigation concerns their spouse. She herself was summoned on July 19, but as an indictee, Begoña Gómez had also remained silent.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado arrives at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid on July 30, 2024 for a hearing with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez © AFP – OSCAR DEL POZO

But in the process, the head of the Spanish government, who has always defended his wife's integrity and sees in this affair maneuvers of “harassment” emanating from “media strongly marked on the right” and supported according to him by the opposition parties, responded with a complaint targeting Judge Peinado by name.

In this complaint filed Tuesday morning on his behalf by the Attorney General of the State, Pedro Sanchez accuses, among other things, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado of not having respected his status as head of government by hearing him face to face, instead of letting him testify in writing, as he had requested.

– “Judicial abuse” –

“This complaint (…) is not a frontal attack on the judiciary,” is written in the document, consulted by AFP. “On the contrary, it is the expression of the confidence placed in the judiciary, the only one capable of putting an end to an abuse, in this case a judicial abuse attributable to one of the more than 5,000 judges who exercise their functions in Spain.”

The head of the Spanish government had tried last week to assert his right to testify in writing, guaranteed for members of the government in Spanish law. In vain: the justice system had rejected his request, ensuring that Judge Peinado had summoned him as the husband of Begoña Gómez, and not as Prime Minister.

Begona Gomez, wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, prepares to vote in the European elections on June 9, 2024 in Madrid © AFP – Pierre-Philippe MARCOU

“You can't dissociate a person, and claim that you're going to question them as a spouse, when what determines the object of the investigation (…) is the status of head of government of the husband of the person targeted by the investigation,” the complaint reads.

“It is obvious that we are facing a staged case (…). And the strategy followed is very clear. The strategy consists of giving a legal appearance to a political cause,” government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria commented on the complaint.

“Sánchez did not wish to speak before the courts, but he will have to answer to the Spanish people for all the injustices” of his government, reacted on X the leader of the Popular Party (PP, right), the main opposition party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, before the announcement of the complaint.

The hearing of Pedro Sanchez was only the second of a sitting Spanish Prime Minister, after that of the conservative Mariano Rajoy, heard as a witness during a trial on the illegal financing of the PP in 2017.

– Meeting with the king –

Present Tuesday morning for the start of the Council of Ministers, the last before the summer holidays, the head of government must go in the afternoon to the island of Majorca, to Balearic Islands, to meet King Felipe VI at his holiday resort, as he does every year at this time.

Begoña Gómez, who runs a master's degree in management at Madrid's Complutense University, is suspected of using her husband's position in her professional relationships – notably with Juan Carlos Barrabés, a Spanish businessman.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez speaks before the Spanish parliament on July 17, 2024 in Madrid. © AFP – Óscar del Pozo

The investigation into her was opened after a complaint by Manos limpias (“Clean Hands”), a group close to the far right, which said it was based on press articles. A second association, Hazte oír (“Make yourself heard”), as well as the far-right party Vox, have since joined the case.

When the investigation was opened at the end of April, the head of the Spanish government had suspended his activities for five days, saying he was considering resigning.

The PP and Vox have been increasing their criticism of the Prime Minister for weeks, weakened by this affair but also by the absence of a stable majority in Parliament.

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