The Diplomat
The head of the Court of Instruction Number 7 of Zaragoza, Rafael Lasala, has rejected the request of the State Attorney’s Office for the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, to testify as an investigator via videoconference in the case investigating the entry and exit in Spain of the leader of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.
Legal sources indicated to Europa Press that the magistrate has agreed that González Laya must attend the court in person to appear in the framework of the interrogations that are being carried out in the investigation.
The summons of the ex-minister, scheduled for Monday, October 4, follows the request made on September 14 by the lawyer Juan Carlos Navarro, and to which the other prosecution, led by Antonio Urdiales, adhered.
So far, the magistrate has heard the ex-chief of staff of the Foreign Office, Camilo Villarino, who has appeared as a defendant, also under the legal representation of the State Attorney’s Office. Legal sources told Europa Press that in his statement he pointed to the former minister and the former director of Carmen Calvo’s cabinet when she was first vice-president of the Government as being aware of Ghali’s entry.
As a result of these statements, the accusations have requested the inclusion in the proceedings of the testimonies of the former first vice-president and her cabinet director, as well as the chief of staff of the Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
The magistrate has summoned to appear -as witnesses and by videoconferenc – Calvo’s former chief of staff and current director general of the National Mint, María Isabel Valldecabres, and the director of the Interior Minister’s office, Susana Crisóstomo. Both are due to answer to the judge on 18 October.
Meanwhile, Vox wants the Plenary of the Congress of Deputies to condemn the actions of the Government in relation to the secret stay in Spain of Brahim Ghali and to force President Pedro Sánchez to appear before Parliament to give an account of this matter.
This is stated in the motion registered by Vox, a consequence of the interpellation on this issue that it addressed on Wednesday to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and which will be put to a vote in the next plenary session, in mid-October.
