The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

The court of the 'Villarejo case' suspends the trial against Commissioner García Castaño

2022-05-24T16:53:41.348Z


The police officer, accused of collaborating with the plot, suffered a stroke in early May Commissioner Enrique García Castaño, upon his arrival at the National Court, in a file image.Javier Lizón (EFE) The National Court has made an important decision on Tuesday in the first major oral hearing against retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, the epicenter of a macroplot of police corruption. The court has decided to suspend the trial against Commissioner Enrique García Castaño, ali


Commissioner Enrique García Castaño, upon his arrival at the National Court, in a file image.Javier Lizón (EFE)

The National Court has made an important decision on Tuesday in the first major oral hearing against retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, the epicenter of a macroplot of police corruption.

The court has decided to suspend the trial against Commissioner Enrique García Castaño, alias

El Gordo

, whose health has seriously deteriorated after suffering a stroke in early May.

As detailed by the judges, a forensic doctor has evaluated García Castaño's situation and has concluded that, "at least within a period of six months, he will not be able to assess his condition or his evolution."

This decision of the Court implies that the trial continues for the rest of the defendants.

But, according to detailed legal sources, everything that happens from now on cannot be used against García Castaño in the event that he recovers in the future.

In fact, if the case against him can continue in a few months, it will have to be repeated.

Although, according to his defense sources, the commissioner is in very bad shape and, if he ends up being declared incompetent due to his state of health, all open cases against him will be shelved.

García Castaño faced a dark horizon in court.

For this trial alone, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has asked that he be sentenced to 82 years and 10 months in prison.

The public ministry emphasizes that El Gordo helped Villarejo with what were baptized as Proyecto Iron —the commission of a law firm to spy on a rival law firm— and Proyecto Land —the family war of the Cerecedas, promoters of the luxury urbanization La Finca , in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid)—.

Kitchen key piece

The National Court already advanced this movement on Monday.

Judge Ángela Murillo, president of the court, announced to García Castaño's defense that he should attend Tuesday's session without fail because "possibly" they were going to "suspend the trial for him."

24 hours later, those words are confirmed and the commissioner is left out of what remains of the oral hearing.

García Castaño is a key piece in the summary of Operation Tandem.

Before retiring, this agent served as head of the Central Unit for Operational Support (UCAO) of the Police, a group specialized in undercover operations and surveillance.

The Prosecutor's Office maintains that El Gordo, whom Villarejo identifies in his diaries as Big, provided his partner with confidential information —such as tax data or call traffic— in exchange for a gratuity and "knowing that it would be sold for private purposes."

García Castaño always denied that he charged anything and that he helped Villarejo for these purposes.

However, the accused did admit his participation in Kitchen, the operation concocted in the Ministry of the Interior to spy on former popular treasurer Luis Bárcenas with the alleged objective of snatching compromising documents that he still kept on high-ranking PP officials.

When these investigations were secret, García Castaño began to collaborate with the justice system and pointed the way to reach the leadership of the department then headed by Jorge Fernández Díaz.

El Gordo, who has testified eight times during the investigation of this case, revealed that the former Secretary of State for Security and

number two

of the minister, Francisco Martínez, kept mobile messages about Kitchen that incriminated Fernández Díaz.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-05-24

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.