Public prosecutor asks for 15-year sentence for Spain's ex-interior minister in charge of Catalan espionage operation

Catalan politician Jorge Fernández Díaz faces up to 15 years in prison and 33 years barred from office, as the public prosecutor's office requested on Friday midday. Fernández Díaz, a member of the conservative People's Party, was the Spanish interior minister between 2011 and 2016 and is believed to be behind a smear campaign against Catalan pro-independence figures.

He is now facing a prison sentence for the 'Kitchen court case,' where Spanish national police officers followed the former People's Party treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, to steal information regarding a political corruption case involving the political party named 'Caso Gürtel.'

The public prosecutor accuses Fernández Díaz of covering up crimes, misuse of public funds, and of crimes against privacy. 

It has also charged former security state secretary Francisco Martínez and former police officials Eugenio Pino, Marcelino Martín Blas, José Manuel Villarejo, Enrique García Castaño, and Andrés Manuel Gómez Gordo. 

The public prosecutor has requested two-and-a-half-year to 19-year prison sentences for them.

'Operation Catalonia'

In 2016, the Catalan newspaper 'El Periódico' published a 500-page police report proving there was an 'Operation Catalonia' aimed at smearing pro-independence politicians during the People's Party's last term in office.

Its goal was to discredit the entire pro-independence movement with an operation that started in 2012 coinciding with the elections.