García Castellón refuses to investigate whether there was an operation by the PP political brigade behind the Dina case

The judge of the National Court Manuel García Castellón has rejected this Tuesday the appeal presented by the former Vice President of the Government and former leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, where he urged him to investigate if there was a "regular or irregular police investigation" regarding the card phone that his former adviser Dina Bousselham lost with the theft of her mobile in 2015, thus pointing to an operation similar to that of 'Kitchen', reports Ep.

Iglesias filed an appeal against García Castellón's decision to terminate the judicial investigation. Pablo Iglesias argued that it was necessary to continue the investigation phase because "the alleged provision of the information on the card to the Deputy Directorate of Operations (DAO) or the possibility of a regular or irregular police investigation into the information contained had not been investigated." in the same".

The thesis that Villarejo was behind the leak to various media outlets of the content of the card to harm Podemos should have been García Castellón's "main hypothesis", according to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Criminal Chamber, although the magistrate focused on trying to obtain evidence to charge Iglesias.

The head of the Central Investigation Court Number 6 concluded his investigations on this separate piece number 10 of the so-called 'Villarejo case' on the 29th, where the route that the mini SD had since the theft of Bousselham's mobile phone was investigated until part of the information it stored appeared published. The judge made that decision after the Police gave him a final report in which he concluded that it was impossible to access the content of the card, a procedure requested by García Castellón in case it could be deduced that it was Iglesias who damaged it.

When he received the content of the report, and given the impossibility of indicting the former leader of Podemos, García Castellón decided to end the investigation despite the fact that three witnesses remained to appear, including Dina Bousselham and the leader of the political brigade, Eugenio Pino, to whom Villarejo said that he delivered a copy of the card that ended up in the media. Precisely this Wednesday both and Bousselham's ex-partner were summoned, but the strike of lawyers from the administration of justice has forced the declarations to be suspended.

García Castellón has now ratified his decision to terminate the investigation of 'Dina'. "The need for the extension is not justified in the appeal, since it is based on a hypothetical assumption, on possibilities and future prospects, without circumstantial support relevant enough to lead to the aforementioned order being reformed," he stated.

In the magistrate's opinion, Iglesias' request is based solely on "a simple hypothesis or possibility", that is, that new proceedings can be derived from the testimony of former DAO Eugenio Pino as a witness.

In addition, he has highlighted that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor agrees with him that the investigation of this separate piece of 'Tándem' must be terminated, in his case, arguing that it is not foreseeable that Pino's appearance will give rise to the need to agree on more proceedings , due to the "limited nature" with which the Criminal Chamber ordered the ex-DAO, Bousselham and his partner, Ricardo Sa, as well as police experts, to take a statement before closing these investigations.

In this regard, the instructor has recalled that the Criminal Chamber established at the time that Bousselham should be heard to clarify whether he "consents, tolerates, and accepts" that Iglesias knew the content of his telephone card; and Sa to "explain some loopholes" about the theft of the mobile and the recovery of the mini SD; while he pointed out that Pino's statement could be limited because he is charged in a separate piece, 'Kitchen'.

The origin of the case

The facts investigated date back to November 2015, when the Bousselham couple's coat was stolen while they were at the IKEA in Alcorcón with her mobile phone inside.

Just two years after that robbery, in November 2017, a hard drive and two USB flash drives appeared at Villarejo's home in which folders called 'DINA 2' and 'DINA 3' were stored, containing files from the mini SD of the mobile stolen from Bousselham.

In 2019, a separate piece was created within the macro-cause on Villarejo ('Tándem') to investigate this event. In 2020, García Castellón prosecuted the commissioner and two journalists for alleged crimes of discovery and revelation of secrets.

Likewise, it raised a reasoned statement to the Supreme Court (TS) to investigate the former Vice President of the Government and leader of Podemos Pablo Iglesias - registered at that time - for discovery and disclosure of secrets, with gender aggravation, computer damage and accusation or false complaint and/or simulation of the crime, but the TS rejected it and entrusted him to continue investigating, entrusting him with these last testimonials.

The judge then argued that the "only possible explanation" for the damage suffered by the mini SD is that it was caused when it was in the hands of the former 'purple' leader, whom it reached, after passing from hand to hand, and months after receiving it. returned it to its rightful owner.

Vox resource

Vox, which exercises popular accusation, asked the instructor to continue investigating, estimating that there were still proceedings to be carried out, including the declaration of Iglesias as accused.

But García Castellón, in a recent order, also refused to delay the judicial investigations to call the former Vice President of the Government as investigated, considering that, if it is not possible "to determine the production of the damages in the telephone card, nor to specify its authorship" , "the necessary budgets are not given to attribute such facts to Mr. Iglesias".

The magistrate still has to respond to the appeal made by Bousselham, who also demands that the investigation continue to find out if the theft of the mobile phone was an "order" to the commissioner José Manuel Villarejo in the style of 'Kitchen'.

Bousselham pointed out that it could be an order made "by members of the Government or the Ministry of the Interior, or the DAO (...) with the aim of harming Mr. Iglesias."