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Diario Euskadi

Three Magistrates Recuse Themselves from Judging Osakidetza OPE Exam Leak Case in Álava

Judges cite objective impartiality concerns due to their prior involvement in the judicial process.

Judge's gavel on a wooden desk in a courtroom, with blurred legal documents in the background.
IA

Judge's gavel on a wooden desk in a courtroom, with blurred legal documents in the background.

Three magistrates from the Provincial Court of Álava have requested to recuse themselves from judging the alleged leak of Osakidetza OPE 2016-2017 exams, citing concerns about objective impartiality.

The tribunal, initially appointed to hear the case and composed of two female magistrates and one male magistrate, has submitted their recusal reports. In these documents, they explain the reasons why they believe they should abstain from adjudicating this case, according to judicial sources.
One of the magistrates stated in her written request that her involvement in the investigation of the case is the reason for her recusal. The other two explained that in September 2025, they issued a ruling that revoked the provisional dismissal agreed upon by the investigating judge of the procedure, which implies "a clear case of objective impartiality being affected."
The reports have been forwarded to the president of the Provincial Court to initiate the procedure for forming a new tribunal with three different magistrates. These new magistrates will now have to decide whether their colleagues' reasons for recusal are justified.
The potential change in the composition of the tribunal, which was set to judge two individuals for the crime of revealing secrets, led to the postponement last week of the preliminary hearing scheduled for yesterday. These hearings, unlike a trial, address issues such as the admission of evidence or the parties' agreement with proposed penalties, aiming to avoid a full trial.
In this judicial procedure, the Prosecutor's Office of Álava is seeking two-year prison sentences for a doctor and one-year sentences for an opposition candidate. These are the only two remaining defendants in the alleged leak of Osakidetza OPE 2016-2017 exams.
After the Álava Court declared the dismissal of the case for 17 of the 19 investigated individuals in September 2024, the Instruction Court number 2 of Vitoria concluded its investigation and issued an order to open an oral trial against a doctor, then head of service at Donostia Hospital, specializing in plastic, aesthetic, and reconstructive surgery, and against an opposition candidate, who was the romantic partner of the accused doctor's son.
The Public Prosecutor's Office considers the doctor to be the perpetrator of a crime of revealing secrets with serious harm to the public interest or third parties, while the accused woman allegedly committed an attempted crime of revealing secrets with serious harm to the public interest or third parties.

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