Nathan Shachar: Mafia methods against judges burden for the Socialist Party

In May 2024, Biedma was tasked with investigating suspicions against the musician David Sánchez, who in 2017 was given a well-paid job by the region of Extremadura as "head of the performing arts". Sánchez, who was registered in Portugal and did not pay taxes in Spain, was shown during the initial interrogations in January 2025 not to know the address of his "workplace" in Badajoz. According to the suspicions, he had been hired without the position being advertised, thanks to contacts in the – then – socialist-ruled region.

Last year, what was called the Socialist Party's "plumbing unit" was revealed, whose task was to remove or silence the police officers, judges and witnesses who figured in the corruption investigations against the Prime Minister's wife Begoña Gómez and brother David at any cost. The project was led by socialist politician Leire Díez, in consultation with the prime minister's closest man Santos Cerdán, both of whom are awaiting trial.

People who worked for the plumbers combed the private lives of Judge Biedma and her husband in search of anything that could be used for extortion. One of Biedma's former colleagues, a judge ousted by Biedma after beating his wife, was engaged to smear her online. This former judge spoke of "eliminating" Biedma in a phone call recorded by police. Unknown persons, claiming to be Biedma's brother and secretary, requested information about Biedma's daughters from their school.

The details of Judge Biedma's private life were handed over to los Rocho, a local crime gang, which was offered leniency in future trials if it agreed to harm Biedma's family. The leader of los Rocho, Cintia Rocho, told the police that she refused to deal with the matter, even though Biedma sent several of her relatives to prison. Leire Díez's diaries mention plans to contact the criminal network. Díez claims that the notes formed the basis for a book she planned to write.

The bigger question, as this affair rolls on with increasingly odious effects, is of course the extent to which the prime minister knew what his confidants Santos Cerdán and Leire Díez were up to. The final answer to that question lies in the hands of the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid, where the trial of Díez and Cerdán will soon begin.