The judge in the Pegasus case agreed this Monday to tacitly ratify the decision of the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to testify in writing in the case in which he is investigating the infection of the mobile phones of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and of various ministers.
Now Judge José Luis Calama gives the State Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office – which acts on behalf of the Government and denounced the espionage – three days to send the questions they want to ask the minister.
In an order issued this Monday, the magistrate of the National High Court recalls that he proposed to Bolaños to declare through videoconference, the day and time he wanted so as not to hinder his tasks as minister, and gave him a period of three days to opt for this possibility.
The judge estimated that the oral videoconference system would make it easier for the witness to clarify the relevant points for the investigation. Bolaños was in charge of announcing in a press conference the espionage to members of the Government. In his appearance, he indicated that the desire for transparency led the Executive to make it public.
Calama explains that Bolaños has allowed the three-day period to pass “without making any statement” in this regard, which leads him to make a written statement. “It leads us to understand tacitly rejected the option offered for the purpose of giving a witness statement through videoconference, and ratified in the same way his decision to accept the procedural privilege,” he says, referring to the option offered by the law to the members of the Government to testify in writing.
In another resolution, Judge Calama rejects the appeal filed by the State Attorney against the decision to admit the appearance of the Association of European Jurists Prolege as a popular accusation.
The Government’s representation in the case argued that allowing the appearance “would give rise to possible access to all the data content of the privacy of the aggrieved.” Judge Calama’s response is that in this case the crime under investigation “not only affects the legal right of privacy and informative self-determination, but also general interests”, which justifies the access of popular action.
The Prosecutor’s Office did not oppose the appearance of the Prolege association, but requested that a bail of 10,000 euros be demanded. So the judge agreed. The association does not have the financial means to face such a high bail, so it has launched a fundraising through the crowdfunding system through the account ES04 0182 1433 0502 3337.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
