• The exit. Commissioner Villarejo at the exit of the prison: "The sewers do not generate shit, they clean it"

  • The case: The National Court releases Villarejo as it is unable to judge him in four years

  • The detention: Judge Lamela decrees unconditional imprisonment for Commissioner Villarejo for criminal organization

Retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo was released this Wednesday after the Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office and the judge in the

Tandem case

assumed that he will not be able to be tried before the maximum term of four years of provisional prison expires on November 3.

"The sewers do not generate shit, they clean it", were the first words released by Villarejo, the epitome of the so-called

sewers of the State.

Neither the judge nor the Prosecutor's Office wanted to release him, but the course

time has been imposed.

On Monday, the court that must try him closed the door for the oral hearing to begin before December.

By then, Villarejo should be free, because on November 3 the legal maximum of preventive detention will be fulfilled. For the same reason, the court

ratified

his provisional release for the matters that will be tried, although the measure was maintained in the cases that were still being investigated. However, as a result of that decision of the court the prosecutors of the case presented this Wednesday a letter in which they asked the investigating judge that he also agreed to the freedom of Villarejo.

Daily appearances

The Public Ministry explained that since the main objective of the prison to ensure their presence at the trial could no longer be fulfilled, the precautionary measure "could become an anticipated penalty and consequently compromise the fundamental right to the presumption of innocence" A few hours later, the judge issued his decision.

"It should be noted that the current state of processing of the main piece of the procedure and the rest of the separate pieces formed to date, which are in the investigation process, does not allow their immediate conclusion, nor, in any case, their prosecution prior to the expiration date of the maximum legal term of the extended provisional prison in which the investigated is found. "In his decision, the judge

Manuel Garcia Castellon

It also shares with the Prosecutor's Office that the "high" risk of flight and criminal repetition persists, and it imposes some precautionary measures.

Villarejo must appear daily before the court of his home, his passport is withdrawn and he is prohibited from obtaining a new one, as well as leaving the country The Prosecutor's Office and the judge give a long list of arguments to sustain the existence of a risk of flight and of criminal repetition.

Among them, that the last open piece of the case has focused on disrupting the shed of

sale of recordings

compromising that supposedly the commissioner had organized from prison.

A demonstration, Anticorrupción considers, "of his still integration as the head of a criminal organization."

"That cartoon that he was going to run away is a lie"

The judge and prosecutors also highlight his ability to access false documentation - blank documentation was seized -, his funds abroad, the abundant contacts that would allow him to flee Spain and the integration of his family members into the criminal organization (His wife and son are charged). Faced with that long list, Villarejo's response at the gates of the Estremera prison (Madrid) was more concise: "That story that I was going to flee they know that it is a lie." The decision to release the commissioner was not imperative at this time, since the Prosecutor's Office is not the only prosecution.

Can

he exercises the popular accusation and this Wednesday, after learning about the movement of the Public Ministry, he asked the judge to obtain his opinion before resolving.

Pablo Iglesias

It was not stated whether or not he supported the release.

Now, Podemos could file an appeal before the court that reviews the decisions of the investigating judge.

The pieces to be judged in 2021

In the three separate pieces -the so-called

Iron

,

Land

Y

Painter

- who will go to trial at the end of this year, the Public Ministry requests more than 100 years in prison for Villarejo, mainly for multiple crimes of bribery and disclosure of secrets.

Land

(38 years in prison) his work has been investigated to favor a part of the

Cereceda family

in business disputes.

Iron

(57 years old) focuses on commissioning a law firm to spy on a competing law firm.

Finally,

Painter

(14 years) affects jobs for siblings

Munoz Tamara

against the claims of a former partner When in May of last year the Prosecutor's Office closed the first two pieces (

Iron

Y

Land

), he calculated that there would be no deadline problems.

He even boasted of the speed at which he had been instructed. "The formation of separate pieces promoted by the Public Prosecutor's Office [...] will allow in this case of extraordinary complexity, even before the expiration of its terms, the prompt prosecution for very different crimes, "he said in a statement. A few months later, those calculations have been proven wrong and Villarejo is at liberty:" Here I am, it's a bitch for those who didn't want to, but here I am. "

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