Judge Peinado gives Begoña Gómez five days to prove she used her passport only for her daughter's London graduation

The judicial order

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado issued a ruling on Monday requiring Begoña Gómez, the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, to "accredit" within a non-extendable five-day deadline that she used her passport solely to attend her daughter's graduation in London. The magistrate noted that the document, returned by Gómez on Sunday, "shows no record of exit or entry on the authorised days." The court had lifted the precautionary measure of passport withdrawal and the ban on leaving Spain on an exceptional basis for that specific purpose. Peinado wants to establish whether "any act that could constitute a crime of breaching a precautionary measure" under Article 468.1 of the Criminal Code was committed.

Require the accused, through her legal representation, to accredit within the non-extendable period of five days that the passport handed to her on 8 July was used for the specific purpose for which the precautionary measure was lifted.

Background to the travel restrictions

Peinado sent Gómez to trial by popular jury on 20 June for alleged offences of influence peddling, business corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds. In the same order he withdrew her passport, banned her from leaving Spain and required her to report to the court every 15 days, citing flight risk. The magistrate later reinforced his stance on 30 June, arguing that "it would not be the first time" a head of government of an EU country had fled. Gómez's lawyer, Antonio Camacho, then requested permission for her to join the official delegation travelling to the NATO summit in Ankara on 7–10 July and to return via London for the graduation.

The substitute judge's decision

While Peinado was on leave, substitute judge Antonio Viejo handled the request. He authorised travel to London between 8 and 10 July, citing the "nature of the event" and "the good judicial cooperation between Spain and the United Kingdom, even after Brexit." Ankara was refused because, Viejo stated, Turkey "does not belong to the area of freedom, security and justice of the European Union." Gómez collected her passport on 8 July and returned it in person on Sunday afternoon at the Plaza de Castilla courts in Madrid.

The defence and political reaction

Sources from Gómez's defence told El Mundo that the absence of stamps in the passport is explained by modern electronic systems: a device scans the passport and the traveller's face and grants or denies passage without physical marks. The PSOE published a single-word message on social media, "obsesión", alongside a news link about Peinado's latest ruling. The party's Organisation Secretary, Rebeca Torró, called the judge's move "delirious." "Each step more disproportionate than the last. Begoña Gómez is suffering an incomprehensible witch-hunt. Who is going to stop this? The damage being done to an innocent person and to the justice system is devastating," Torró wrote on X. Media outlets have published photographic records of Gómez at the London event.

Each step more disproportionate than the last. Begoña Gómez is suffering an incomprehensible witch-hunt.

What happens next

Gómez has until the end of the five-day window to present evidence, likely including the graduation photographs already circulating in Spanish media, plus travel receipts or witness statements, or face a potential breach-of-measures charge. The Madrid Provincial Court is separately examining whether Peinado himself incurred a serious disciplinary infraction when he argued in his 20 June order that Gómez could flee with the possible assistance of her security detail, a rationale that prompted the General Council of the Judiciary to order a disciplinary review.