QUESTION (P): Did you notice any strange signals during the period you were examined, between January and December 2016?
ANSWER (R): No, and I'm telling you this with complete sincerity. When a colleague gave me a screenshot of the news yesterday, My first reaction was astonishment, bewilderment. Because I couldn't imagine that would happen. I didn't notice anything strange, although I do remember that some agents of Esquerra or Bildu, in short, had that perception. But I never had the idea that I could be investigated. I was very surprised.
Question: What do you think was the reason for this spying? All the spied on profiles have one thing in common: they were left-wing politicians.
A: Answer that the PP had lost its absolute majority and a progressive majority was possiblealthough for various reasons this did not happen, because the PSOE chose to try to reach an agreement with Ciudadanos and that was not possible. New elections were called and once again the Popular Party no longer had an absolute majority, and the figures indicated what was possible in 2018. I think the fear was that in 2016 a progressive government could emerge. They came after us to see what they could do. found, apparently with a clear objective: to destroy our reputation, to dig into our private lives to destroy our political and political interests prevent this new political majority from taking shape. A new government was possible and the aim was to prevent what happened in 2018 from happening in 2016.
Research with political intentions
“You can look at anyone, at 69 years old, but that leaves a mark“It is one of the most revealing sentences from the conversations published by El País between the then number two of the Interior, Francisco Martínez, and the chief commissioner of the Central Operational Support Unit, Enrique García Castaño.”Are they all clean? No street violence, anarchsetc.? I shit myself, someone must be unreliable. Watch with attentive eyes,” the aforementioned newspaper reports.
Q: In the published conversations you can see a negative intention towards you.
A: Indeed. The goal was to destroy us. That's why my first reaction was surprise, but then came indignation.. They dig into our private lives, where I slept on a certain day, where I went on vacation, what traffic fines I may have… In short, the police have access to a whole series of files that determine the private lives of honest, sincere citizensthat all we wanted was to change the policies that the Popular Party had been pursuing up to that point.
And I think that's why this was used. Patriotic Police. Certain members of the police allowed themselves to be used, without the permission of a judge, to discredit us. We have seen it in our case, but we have also known it in other politicians who have had false evidence fabricated in an attempt to destroy their reputation and private lives, with the aim of preventing them from forming majorities that are contrary to the interests of the Popular Party. . This serves to show what the PP was capable of doing at the time to stay in power. When they had lost the absolute majority, they used the police, whose purpose is to protect our rights, for absolutely partisan interests. I think this is one of the most serious things that has happened in democracy. the use of the police to destroy a political opponent. It's very serious.
Question: Do you plan to take legal action?
A: We are studying ways to do this. The first thing I have to do is appear as the accused in the case, and I want to know What has been researched about me, what is known and for what reason, with what purpose was it researched?. I believe that I have every right in the world to know what information they have obtained when the police have investigated me without the permission of a judge and without having committed any crime. It is essential to try to make the political and police officials who indulged in these absolutely undemocratic practices, typical of a dictatorship, pay for what they have done and to let the full weight of the law rest on them.
What happened is very serious. Those responsible must pay, and from a personal point of view I also say that I am extremely happy that I contributed with my vote to this government, which all boundaries of democratic decency exceededwe could throw him out.
