The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, assured yesterday in Congress that he will continue to “demand” that the Government of Poland hold the oral trial against the Spanish journalist Pablo González “as soon as possible.”
“I am going to continue demanding an oral trial as soon as possible and I am going to continue taking care of it directly and giving instructions, as I have done for two years, to the Spanish ambassador in Poland so that he can personally take care of it,” said the minister during the session of control to the Government, in response to a question from EH Bildu deputy Jon Iñarritu about the situation of González, who has been in preventive detention in Poland since February 28, 2022 under the accusation of espionage. In this regard, Iñarritu recalled in his speech that “in Poland there is no rule that limits the maximum time of preventive detention, despite the different resolutions of the European Court of Human Rights.”
Albares assured that he has asked, “systematically from day one,” that “whatever evidence there may be” against González be presented and that “his presumption of innocence” be respected. “I am neither a judge nor a police officer, I am Minister of Foreign Affairs and, therefore, I do not investigate, but I do want there to be a trial, an oral, adversarial and public trial, as soon as possible, and that is what I have requested.” insistently to the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” he added.
Pablo González, a resident of Guernica, was detained on February 28, 2022 in Przemysl, Poland, where he was covering the refugee crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Polish Internal Security Agency accused González of using his profession to cover up activities for Russian military intelligence, for which he could receive a sentence of up to ten years in prison.
