Spain's former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has suffered a string of setbacks on key questions during his first four months as a formal suspect ("imputado", a person officially placed under judicial investigation), as both the judge and the prosecutor have blocked his attempts to turn the case around. Zapatero has asked that Saudi Arabia be requested to cooperate to back up his account of some jewels at the centre of the case. The rulings matter because they show how little traction the ex-leader's defence has gained against a case involving a former head of government.