Pedro Sánchez has chosen not to answer Judge Juan Carlos Peinado's questions. According to sources familiar with the statement, the President of the Government has invoked the possibility offered by the law not to answer questions that could harm the spouse.
The procedure lasted just 20 minutes, as explained by the lawyer and legal representative of Vox, Marta Castro, who accompanied the judge on behalf of the five popular accusations involved in the case against Begoña Gómez for influence peddling and corruption in business.
Upon leaving La Moncloa, Castro criticized the President for avoiding answering all questions, not only those directly related to his wife. She indicated that they will "analyze" the consequences of this attitude. "Mr. Sánchez has invoked his right not to testify. In our opinion, this right would apply in the case of his spouse, but not in relation to the other two accused, who are the rector of the Complutense University and the businessman Carlos Barrabés."
"We believe," she added, "that the extent of this non-declaration must be analyzed because it was a position in which he refused to provide information about events of which he is a witness, and we will see the consequences this may have."
Judge Juan Carlos Peinado arrived at the La Moncloa palace more than half an hour before a scheduled testimony at 11 a.m. Hazte Oír, one of the popular accusations, had called for a protest near the presidential complex, although only about twenty people gathered to chant slogans against the President and his wife.
Sánchez had to face the judge against whom his Government had strongly criticized. The President had sent a letter to him last week requesting that the statement be in writing, but the judge maintained the same terms: a visit to La Moncloa.
As expected, the practical result of the procedure was null. The Criminal Procedure Law exempts Sánchez - like any spouse - from answering questions that could harm his wife, who is the main subject of investigation by Judge Peinado.
The President of the Government is not the only one who has protested against the way the judge has decided to conduct the procedure. The popular accusations that could not access the complex will ask the Madrid Court of Appeals to annul Pedro Sánchez's testimony for not allowing them to ask questions.
This was explained at the doors of La Moncloa by the lawyer of Hazte Oír, Javier María Pérez-Roldán. If the Court rules in their favor, the appearance "would have to be repeated," the lawyer explained. On the other hand, Luis María Pardo, lawyer for Iustitia Europa, highlighted that a few weeks ago the judge had agreed that all popular accusations could be present "in all proceedings," so his change of criteria violates their right to effective judicial protection.
After the statement, Sánchez will travel to Palma, where at 5:30 p.m. he will attend the swearing-in ceremony before the king of the new Constitutional Court magistrate José María Macías, and then Sánchez will hold his usual summer meeting with Felipe VI at the Almudaina Palace.