Overview

• The trial opened in Oviedo with 22 defendants tied to the 2017 'Matta' investigation into an alleged hierarchical cocaine network in Asturias.
• Sixteen defendants pleaded guilty and accepted reduced terms of roughly two to four years and nine months after agreements with the prosecutor, and one accused was declared in rebeldía for failing to appear.
• The prosecutor lowered earlier prison and fine demands citing the lengthy timeline and defendants' rehabilitation, and is seeking four and a half years for Laureano Oubiña.
• Oubiña denied any role and said his contacts with co‑accused Carlos de la Mata concerned helping a jailed relative rather than drug trafficking.
• Evidence detailed a 2017 Guardia Civil seizure of 4.105 kilograms of cocaine at 78.5% purity plus other drugs, cash, weapons and accounting records, and court reports note three implicated individuals died before trial.