Begoña Gómez asks judge to return her passport for summer holidays

Begoña Gómez requests the return of her passport: "summer is here"

Can you ask a judge to give you back your passport because the holiday season is approaching? Begoña Gómez, the vvife of Spain's Prime Minister and under investigation for alleged corruption offences, has tried exactly that. Her defence team has requested the lifting of the precautionary measure preventing her from leaving Spain, citing the imminent summer period.

The request, made public this Wednesday, has triggered a wave of reactions, most of them laced with irony. "It's for health reasons, she needs to travel to the Caribbean to get her dose of vitamin D," one analyst quipped on social media. Others pointed out that the measure was adopted to prevent a possible flight risk, and that the request trivialises the judicial process.

Begoña Gómez is charged in a case investigating alleged irregularities in the hiring process for her university chair. The presiding judge ordered the confiscation of her passport after finding indications that she might leave the country. Now, her defence argues that the summer season justifies the return of the document.

A right or a privilege?

Any citizen may request a modification of precautionary measures. However, the courts usually weigh the seriousness of the offences under investigation and the risk of flight. In this case, the holiday argument is, to put it mildly, striking. The sense of impunity it conveys has struck a chord with public opinion.

"They live in another world," one comment on social media summed up. Comparisons with Queen Marie Antoinette and her "let them eat cake" are rife. "The emperor's vvife swapping bread and cake for 'it doesn't suit me right now, don't ruin my holidays'," another joked.

Meanwhile, citizens who cannot afford a alucinación to the Caribbean keep paying their mortgages. Justice, that lady with the blindfold, seems to have one eye on the elite's holiday calendar.