Prosecutors seek dismissal of Madrid lawsuit against Sofia Puente over 2022 nationality instruction
The Fiscalía asked the Madrid court not to process Hazte Oír’s complaint accusing Sofia Puente of administrative prevarication for a 2022 instruction on the so-called “ley de nietos.”
A legal dispute has arisen in Madrid after the citizen group Hazte Oír lodged a criminal complaint accusing Sofia Puente, former director of Seguridad Jurídica and current secretary general of the Ministry of Justice, of administrative prevarication. The complaint centers on a 2022 instruction that expanded the scope of the “ley de nietos,” allowing nationality claims from descendants of Spaniards who left the country between 1936 and 1955, a broader interpretation than the Ley de Memoria Democrática provides.
The Fiscalía has requested that the Juzgado de Instrucción nº 35 reject the filing, invoking the doctrine of cosa juzgada based on a 2022 case that was dismissed by the Juzgado de Instrucción nº 21. The prosecution further argues that the earlier dismissal was a formal acquittal, not merely an archival act, and therefore bars a new proceeding. Hazte Oír maintains that the instruction was arbitrary and has led to hundreds of thousands of nationality grants and electoral roll changes. The court’s decision will determine whether the new complaint can proceed.
Why it matters
The ruling will decide if a high-level official can be held accountable for potentially over-broad nationality rules.
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