The Supreme Court judge sent the Attorney General to trial and imposed bail of 150,000 euros.

MadridThe Supreme Court judge investigating the State Attorney General for disclosure of secrets has taken the final step of sending him to trial. The investigating judge in the case, Ángel Hurtado, ordered this Tuesday to open an oral trial against Álvaro García Ortiz for allegedly leaking the email from Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend to the Prosecutor's Office, in which Alberto González Amador admitted to tax fraud. Hurtado also imposed a bail of 150,000 euros "to cover any financial liabilities that may arise," that is, the payment of possible compensation to González Amador for "moral damages." If García Ortiz does not hand over the documents within five days, his assets will be seized "to secure that amount." Furthermore, the judge refused to provisionally suspend him from his duties as head of the Public Prosecutor's Office and thus rejected the request made by the Independent Professional Association of Prosecutors (APIF), one of the popular accusations.

Hurtado passes the ball to the Supreme Court's criminal chamber, which must set the date of the trial, expected in the coming months, and the composition of the court that will judge him. While waiting for the official resolution, it has already been revealed that it will be composed of the president of the second chamber, Andrés Martínez Arrieta, and the judges Manuel Marchena, Antonio Moral, Juan Ramón Berdugo, Carmen Lamela, Susana Polo, and Ana Ferrer. That is, it will have a conservative majority. Hurtado's move, which was inevitable because The Supreme Court's appeals chamber had already rejected the Attorney General's appeal, which was his last attempt to avoid the trial., has reactivated the clash between the Spanish government and the PP over this case, which reached its peak last Friday with Alberto Núñez Feijóo's stand-up at the opening ceremony of the judicial year.

The Spanish government has received the news without surprise and without changing its position. In a press conference following the Cabinet meeting, the spokesperson for the Spanish government, Pilar Alegría, reiterated that they maintain "confidence" in García Ortiz and in "his innocence." "He has defended the truth and pursued the crime. We fully respect the court ruling and have complete confidence in the Attorney General," she said. The People's Party (PP), on the other hand, has once again called for the Attorney General's resignation. Its spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, once again denounced the fact that Pedro Sánchez has not yet forced him to leave office. "That is what would happen in a democratic country," Muñoz argued at a press conference. The PP president insisted on X, lamenting the "unbearable institutional degradation" that he believes the Spanish president has caused and warned the PSOE that if they continue not to ask for the Attorney General's resignation, "they will accompany them to the dock."

"There are enough indications"

In the ruling, Judge Hurtado argues that "there is sufficient evidence" to prosecute the Attorney General for the email leak on the night of March 13, 2024. One of the pieces of evidence, in the opinion of the investigating judge and also of the two judges of the appeals court who at the end of July confirmed the decision to prosecute, is the dynamics of a frantic exchange of communications between different prosecutors" to counter the false version that had been spread by the Madrid president's entourage about the email published in The World at 9:29 p.m. on the same day.

The instructor maintains that García Ortiz wanted to "win the story in this information" although it was about the question "from whom the initiative to reach a criminal compliance agreement had come" which, in his opinion, has "little relevance." According to the information fromThe World, had been an offer from the public prosecutor's office, although it was a proposal from the defense of Ayuso's boyfriend. This activity by García Ortiz, the temporal coincidence with the publication on Cadena SER of the content of the email that denied The World or the fact that the Attorney General deleted the messages from his devices are some of Hurtado's arguments for prosecuting him.

An approach that has generated criticism even in the Supreme Court. One of the appeals court judges opposed prosecuting him, considering this evidence "absolutely insufficient" to prove that he was the one who leaked the email. It's an argument that also resonated this Tuesday in Congress. "You can't ask someone under investigation to prove their own innocence," argued Sumar spokesperson Verónica Martínez Barbero at a press conference.

He remains in office.

García Ortiz will be able to sit in the dock as Attorney General, as Hurtado has concluded that he cannot be suspended from office due to a "legal loophole." "There is a regulation for agreeing to the suspension of any member of the prosecutorial profession, which is administrative in nature," but "it does not contemplate the suspension of the Attorney General," who is appointed by the Spanish government and is not included in the same regime as the other prosecutors.