The commissioner is tried for crimes of false denunciation and slander against the director of the CNI
MADRID, 15 One. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The retired commissioner and in preventive prison José Manuel Villarejo has requested through his lawyer this Friday before the Criminal Court number 8 of Madrid to be able to carry out the interrogations of the witnesses, including the former director of the CNI Féliz Sanz Roldán and the businesswoman Corinna Larsen. The judge, after hearing the position of the State Prosecutor’s Office and Advocacy, has decided that this is not the case and that it is the lawyer himself, Antonio José García Cabrera, who is the spokesman for the defense in the different interrogations.
In this trial against the commissioner, the first to be held against him, the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor’s Office requests for him two years in prison, one for the crime of false reporting, and another year for the crime of slander against the former director of the Feliz Sanz Roldán National Intelligence Center.
The lawyer in the turn of preliminary questions has asked that Villarejo himself be the one who, in his capacity as defendant and lawyer, could exercise this right to conduct his interventions. He also requested that the order of the statements be altered so that the last one to declare after hearing the prosecution’s testimonies since this would “facilitate the clarification of the truth.”
Judge Jesús de Jesús has rejected the previous questions, and regarding the fact that it was the defendant himself who was acting as a lawyer, he indicated that although there is the right of the defendant to question himself, the rule indicates that it can also be done through your representative, so there is no helplessness.
The prosecutor has also pointed out that Villarejo, who has appeared with a mask with the flag of Spain, while sitting in the hearing with his lawyer, could suggest to the spokesman the issues and questions that he considered pertinent.
Among other previous issues, Villarejo’s lawyer also requested the suspension of the plenary session due to lack of time to prepare it given that the snowstorm Filomena had made it impossible for him to visit his client in the Estremera prison, to which the judge replied that he did not proceeds. The prosecutor recalled that the indictment dates from the beginning of 2019 so the lawyer has had plenty of time to prepare for the hearing.
After these previous questions, the trial has started with Villarejo’s statement to questions from the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office.
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