A Spanish court has dismissed Princess Cristina's last appeal to avoid trial in a tax fraud case, media reports said Friday.
Princess Cristina de Borbon, the sister of current King Felipe VI, has been accused of fraud and tax evasion, BBC News reported. The 50-year-old princess, who will face trial next month, faces up to eight years in jail if convicted.
A Palma de Mallorca-based court ruled that Cristina must stand trial in a corruption case involving her husband's sports nonprofit Noos Institute. Her businessman husband Inaki Urdangarin, an Olympic handball medalist, used Noos Institute to embezzle $7.5 million of public money.
The three-member judicial panel upheld the criminal charges against the princess, finding merit in evidences presented by an anti-graft organization - Manos Limpias (Clean Hands).
"A tax crime is a crime against everyone...White it's true that it harms the private interest of the Inland Revenue, those unpaid taxes belong to all of us," said Virginia López Negrete, Manos Limpia's lawyer, according to Russia Today.
Defense lawyers said that they were disappointed over the ruling, which makes Christia the first member of Spain's royal family ever to face criminal charges.
Cristina received the news "with the utmost serenity and all due respect that any judgment always deserves," lawyer Miquel Roca said, according to the Associated Press.