Overview
- Anti-corruption prosecutors have reaffirmed their sentencing demands for the main defendants, seeking 15 years for Jorge Fernández Díaz, Francisco Martínez, Eugenio Pino and Andrés Gómez Gordo and 19 years for José Manuel Villarejo.
- Two senior police inspectors, José Ángel Fuentes Gago and Bonifacio Díez Sevillano, were removed from the list of accused after they denied knowing of the operation and the Bárcenas family together with PSOE and Podemos withdrew their accusations.
- The trial has reached its final procedural phase at the Audiencia Nacional with interrogations finished and the court set to hear final written conclusions, closing arguments from the parties and the defendants' last words before a verdict.
- Prosecutors also stuck to separate requests of 12 years and five months for the former driver Sergio Ríos and two years and six months for ex-Internal Affairs chief Marcelino Martín Blas, while other defendants continued to deny unlawful conduct in court.
- Operation Kitchen is accused of a 2013 clandestine plot to spy on ex-PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas to seize compromising documents and the forthcoming judgment could shape accountability for Rajoy-era Interior Ministry and police leadership as related corruption probes continue.