Spain's National Court has sentenced retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo to three years and six months in prison for revealing secrets in the case of a phone stolen from Dina Bousselham, advisor to Pablo Iglesias. The court orders compensations of 5,000 euros to Bousselham and 1,000 to Iglesias. A mitigating factor for judicial delays was applied.
Spain's National Court, in a ruling dated May 5, 2026, found José Manuel Villarejo guilty of revealing private secrets with dissemination to third parties. The retired commissioner accessed without authorization and distributed content from the memory card of a phone stolen from Dina Bousselham on November 1, 2015, in an Alcorcón shopping center, Madrid.
The card reached Grupo Zeta's headquarters in January 2016. Interviú journalists Alberto Pozas and Luis Rendueles examined it but chose not to publish and handed it to Pablo Iglesias, who kept it for six months without informing Bousselham. Earlier, they gave a copy to Villarejo containing Podemos internal documents, bank data, party leadership chats, and Bousselham's intimate files, including semi-nude photos.
Villarejo passed copies to journalists at El Confidencial and Okdiario to publish discrediting information on Podemos and Iglesias, per proven facts. The court, presided by Teresa Palacios, dismissed his claim of a quick review for illegal funding or ETA ties, as he had no police duties related to Podemos. Anticorruption prosecutors sought five years, but mitigation for delays since 2017 was applied.
Podemos leaders like Ione Belarra welcomed the sentence: “today some justice is finally done,” though the democratic damage is “impossible to repair.” Irene Montero and Pablo Fernández questioned the lack of probe into the plot's “political, media, and judicial” branches. The State will cover compensations subsidiarily.
