The judge who convicted the brother of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been called to give evidence at the National Court in Madrid on October 8 about an alleged campaign of intimidation directed at her.
Beatriz Biedma appears as an injured party in the case against Leire Díez, a former official of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) known in Spain as the party’s plumber. Investigating judge Santiago Pedraz has limited her standing to a possible offence of slander.
Her appearance has followed a Guardia Civil report delivered to the court on October 6 and added to the case file by Pedraz. The 32-page document gathers testimony on contacts between the Díez network and the Los Rochos drug clan in Badajoz, southwest Spain, along with accounts of the surveillance of the judge.
The clan’s leader, Cintia Rocho, told investigators that former judge Luis Sáenz de Tejada had spoken of the need to get rid of Biedma. She said he had also used a Spanish saying about beating sense into a donkey.
A businessman who dealt with Sáenz de Tejada said he had learned through a third party that the judge had been followed. Those behind the surveillance were people the former magistrate had acted for as a lawyer, he said.
Investigators also set out written notes. One attributed to Díez and dated March 25, 2025 refers to a judge in Badajoz, heroin and a clan name, while another speaks of destroying the proceedings against the Prime Minister’s brother.
The report concludes that the group’s actions amounted to preparatory steps aimed at disrupting that case. Díez denies slandering the judge or manoeuvring against her and has appealed against her admission to the proceedings.
Officers also examined the YouTube channel run by Sáenz de Tejada, who was struck off as a judge in 2022 after convictions for domestic violence. He posted 52 videos on the David Sánchez case between June and September 2026, naming Biedma in 34 of the titles.
Biedma investigated the hiring of David Sánchez at the Badajoz provincial council, which was run by the Socialists at the time. The provincial court sentenced him in July to nine years of disqualification from public office for administrative malfeasance.
Pedraz is examining whether party funds paid for a network set up to obstruct cases affecting the PSOE and the government. Former organisation secretary Santos Cerdán is among those under investigation, and the judge is weighing whether the party itself can be charged as a legal person.
The PSOE has said Díez is not a member and that it is not a party to the case. The Spanish Government has rejected any suggestion that the Prime Minister knew of her activities.
