Judge names former judge as investigated

Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain's Audiencia Nacional, who leads the case known as Leire Díez, has summoned former judge Luis Sáenz de Tejada to testify as an investigated party on 28 October at 10:30. Investigators link him to alleged actions against Judge Beatriz Biedma of Badajoz, who led the case against David Sánchez, the brother of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The Guardia Civil ties him to an alleged network led by former Socialist activist Leire Díez that tried to sabotage judicial cases affecting the PSOE and people close to Pedro Sánchez. Pedraz found indications that Sáenz de Tejada may have committed crimes of criminal organisation, slander, coercion and crimes against moral integrity. Sáenz de Tejada was expelled from the judiciary in 2022 after a conviction in a case over mistreatment of his former partner, according to El País. On Tuesday, 13 October, Biedma had asked the judge to summon him and a witness who said the network had contacted her to "eliminate" the magistrate.

A witness account in the UCO report

A report by the Guardia Civil's Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) added to the Leire Díez case includes testimony from a witness linked to the Los Rocho clan in Badajoz, whom the UCO questioned on 24 September. According to the report, the former judge had several contacts with her in which he described the judge as a nuisance and said she had to be eliminated. The witness also said that the former judge and a man who said he was a lawyer gave her the magistrate's home address, as El Mundo reports.

“According to the declarant's account, those statements would fall within the scope of a physical action.”

Police protection for the judge

The Interior Ministry, led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has granted a request from Biedma for a police protection detail, which police sources say starts on Wednesday, 14 October. El País confirmed the decision after La Razón first reported it, and the protection is handled by the ministry's Secretary of State for Security following a risk assessment. Biedma testified as an aggrieved party at the Audiencia Nacional on 8 October, describing a campaign against her carried out through videos on Sáenz de Tejada's YouTube channel. She told the court she felt "angustia" on learning of maneuvers against her. El Mundo reports that she will attend the Badajoz courthouse under escort for the first time on Wednesday. Legal sources cited by El País say the sense of threat has grown over the preceding days, as attacks spread on social media.

Political reaction

The Partido Popular responded on 13 October through party sources, accusing the PSOE of corruption and presenting a count of 130 people under investigation, with Sáenz de Tejada as the 130th. The party accused Sánchez of trying to cover up what it called his disastrous management with figures, and said the only thing going like a rocket was the PSOE's corruption. The count refers to people formally under investigation, not to any conviction. The 130 tally is the party's own, and the articles do not verify it.

What comes next

Sáenz de Tejada is due to testify as an investigated party on 28 October at 10:30, according to the court order. Biedma's police detail is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, 14 October. EL MUNDO reports that Sáenz de Tejada had boasted on his YouTube channel that no court had summoned him, not even as a witness, until the imputation order was issued. Biedma had also told Pedraz that she felt pursued during the investigation of the David Sánchez case, which ended with a nine-year disqualification for prevaricación.