The former number 2 of the Ministry of the Interior Francisco Martínez has presented an appeal in which he asks the National Court to put the Popular Party on the bench for the Kitchen case. The former Secretary of State for Security, who was a popular deputy, is one of those designated by Judge Manuel García Castellón to be tried for espionage against the former treasurer of the PP Luis Bárcenas, using Ministry resources, with the aim of stealing compromising documentation. for the game.
Last week, the investigating judge sent him to the bench along with former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz and others involved in the Kitchen operation. In the same order opening the oral trial, the magistrate rejected the PSOE’s request to consider civil liability – that is, economically – to the PP as the request was submitted too late.
“It has been surprising to this party that oral proceedings have not been opened with the Popular Party, as the civil party responsible in this case,” says the appeal signed by lawyers Juan Antonio Frago and Verónica Suárez.
“It is absolutely logical that, if it is assumed that our client, together with the other co-defendants, committed the crime to benefit the PP and there is a possible civil sentence, or even that the suspension of a hypothetical sentence may involve the payment of the civil liability, the more potential culprits there are, the greater guarantees of survival our client has,” the letter continues.
The clash between Martínez and the party for which he was a deputy is clearly reflected in the writing. Not only does he ask that he be sentenced to face the financial responsibilities imposed in the sentence, but he indicates that the PP could have been accused not only civilly, but also criminally as a legal entity.
“It has been pointed out in the indictment […] and in the indictment documents that the various defendants supposedly decided to spy on and finally steal sensitive information from Mr. Bárcenas, always for the benefit of the Popular Party and using reserved funds for this purpose. Mysteriously, neither the Prosecutor’s Office, nor the State Attorney’s Office and even more mysteriously the Bárcenas family, PSOE and Podemos have forgotten to request the indictment of the Popular Party as a legal entity, having accused […] the perpetrators, police officers and political officials who supposedly “They committed these crimes to benefit the PP,” the appeal states.
The document describes as “exotic” the temporary argument that the judge uses to leave out the PP and considers that it goes against the jurisprudence on civil responsibilities. The PSOE demanded that the PP be considered a lucrative participant, which corresponds to those who, without having been aware of the crime, benefit financially. The PP was already condemned under that figure in the Gürtel case.