The Attorney General resigns after the Supreme Court's conviction.

MadridThe Spanish Attorney General has not waited for the official notification of the sentence that will convict him for revealing secrets—it has not yet been drafted—and resigned from his post this Monday morning. Álvaro García Ortiz sent a letter early this morning to the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, in which he asks to be dismissed "without even waiting to learn the reasoning" of the Supreme Court's decision, which announced last week that it will disqualify him from holding public office for two years for leaking an email in which the couple... In the letter, the Attorney General asserts that his service "is an act owed not only to the Public Prosecutor's Office, but to all Spanish citizens." García Ortiz thus avoids prolonging his inevitable departure and paves the way for the Spanish government to announce his replacement, which is still unknown. "We have already set in motion the process for appointing the new Attorney General," explained Pedro Sánchez from the G-20 summit in Angola. The Spanish president did not specify whether the matter would be resolved at Tuesday's cabinet meeting, but said there would be news "in a short time."

Carta de renúncia del fiscal general

The move by the now former attorney general comes after this Sunday Sánchez escalated his rhetoric against the judiciary and that the Constitutional Court would be consulted to correct "some aspects of the ruling" against García Ortiz. "We accept the ruling, although we do not agree with it," he emphasized, reiterating the message conveyed by the Moncloa Palace since last Thursday. In his farewell letter, García Ortiz also defends himself, asserting that he is "convinced he has faithfully served the institution." "[The letter] reflects the public servant we have had. I wish him all the best. He has my utmost respect and consideration," Sánchez responded. On the other side of the political spectrum, the president of the Community of Madrid harshly criticized the Prime Minister's reaction. "Sánchez has decided that he commands the Supreme Court, that it dictates the rulings, and that the Constitutional Court will correct him [...] It's the three branches of government," Ayuso asserted in an appearance this Monday, in which she insisted that "another Supreme Court has been born within the Supreme Court."

According to the leader of the Madrid PP, the criticism from Moncloa Palace regarding the conviction demonstrates that "the government has decided that nothing and no one can judge them." "Anything that dares to be a counterweight to the power inherent in a democracy will be persecuted and stabbed in the back," she warned. Ayuso called for more people, besides herself, to dare to raise their voices to denounce what she considers a slide towards dictatorship. The PP leadership has not taken up the challenge and has reacted, as usual, with more tepidity than the president of the Community of Madrid. The spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, simply emphasized in a message to X that "when you resign due to legal imperative, you don't abandon your post." "You were expelled for committing a crime," she told García Ortiz. The leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, speaking at an event in Genoa to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (tomorrow, November 25), called for the new Attorney General to meet certain minimum standards, although he added that any election would be tainted by "the shadow of Sánchez's degradation."

García Ortiz's replacement

Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegría has also not provided any details about who will be the next Attorney General. In an interview on TVE, she simply stated that it will be "a committed individual, like Álvaro García Ortiz, dedicated to public service, truth, and the law." While awaiting the Spanish government's appointment of the new Attorney General, a decision expected in the coming days, the duties will be carried out by the Deputy Attorney General of the Supreme Court, María Ángeles Sánchez Conde. Furthermore, the Minister of Education emphasized that, pending the wording of the ruling, the "most important" aspect of the trial is the testimony of "all the journalists" who claimed to have seen the email in which Ayuso's partner admitted to tax fraud "before the Attorney General did." This email "in no case did it reach them through the prosecutor." For this reason, Alegría stated that she "understands" why the Supreme Court's decision has generated "at least astonishment" in "many people." She pointed out that a more thorough review would have been more appropriate to avoid dissenting opinions—two judges voted against convicting García Ortiz—and to reach a unanimous decision, citing the Proceso trial as an example. Sumar, the minority faction within the coalition, echoed this sentiment. Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz lamented that a good, innocent, and exceptionally professional man like García Ortiz had to resign. "This is a turning point where a segment of the judiciary believes itself to be above the law and has acted in a way that violates the separation of powers," Díaz stated in a press conference, where she called on citizens to mobilize in defense of democracy. For his part, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, asserted that respect for the judiciary is not incompatible with the right to express opinions and that judges can also make mistakes. She did so this Monday at an event for Justice Day, but without explicitly referring to the Attorney General's case.