The Supreme Court confirms that the Attorney General will have to go to trial for revealing secrets.

MadridThe Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, will not be able to avoid trial for revealing secrets in the case of Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend. The Supreme Court's appeals division rejected the appeals filed by both his defense and the Prosecutor's Office, with a dissenting vote against the majority decision. Thus, García Ortiz sees his last chance to avoid trial for allegedly leaking the email in which Alberto González Amador's defense admitted to the Prosecutor's Office that his client had committed two tax offenses thwarted. Instead, the high court opted to exonerate the chief prosecutor of the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor's Office and unanimously ordered the dismissal of the case against Pilar Rodríguez.

Despite the high court's decision, the Moncloa government maintains its confidence in García Otriz, as it has done since the beginning of the investigation. This was expressed by Spanish government sources, and reiterated hours later by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself, after his meeting with the King. However, he took the opportunity to pressure the Spanish government, which they criticize for not having forced the resignation of the Attorney General. "He must resign immediately. He cannot continue for one more minute," demanded Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

In the Supreme Court's order confirming the indictment, the two criminal chamber judges who signed it - Julián Sánchez Melgar and Eduardo de Porres - conclude that "the joint assessment of all the evidence" that the investigating judge has been obtaining, "should have been published" on the night of March 13, 2024, and was "a coordinated action personally promoted by the Attorney General." The resolution highlights that García Ortiz "had requested it two hours before its publication in order to disseminate it."

Although numerous journalists, who have testified as witnesses, stated that they were aware of the leaked information - the message sent on February 2 by Ayuso's boyfriend's lawyer, Carlos Neira, to the prosecutor in the case, Julián Salto - before it was emailed to the Attorney General, the two judges. "It cannot be overlooked that the Attorney General, despite his institutional position, deleted the emails from his personal account and also all WhatsApp messages, which has prevented investigators, despite their efforts, from accessing all the information that existed regarding the communications of those under investigation," the ruling states. The two judges also emphasize that "it is common experience that when data is deleted, it is done with elements that may prove unfavorable."

The role of the Madrid prosecutor

The chief prosecutor of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid, Pilar Rodríguez, was the one who sent the communication between González Amador's defense and prosecutor Salto to García Ortiz's personal email at the request of the State Attorney General. She did so on March 13, 2024 at 9:59 p.m., after they had spoken on the phone about twenty minutes earlier, presumably about it after the incident. The World published at 9:29 p.m. an erroneous version of events in which he maintained that it was the Prosecutor's Office that had offered the deal to González Amador. It was from that moment on that García Ortiz moved to try to refute the information—he did so officially with the publication of a press release the following day.

The Attorney General has admitted responsibility for the dissemination of the statement in which he denied that it was true that it had been an offer from Prosecutor Salto, but has denied having previously leaked the email to the press. However, the Supreme Court considers that the fact that García Ortiz had it made it possible for him to forward it that same night to journalists—specifically, to Cadena SER, which reported on it from 11:25 p.m. on air and at 11:51 p.m. online. The ruling emphasizes that Rodríguez was "aware" that he was sending "sensitive information" to his superior in order to publicly deny a news story. However, the Supreme Court has dismissed the case against her precisely because she complied with the principle of hierarchical dependence on the Prosecutor's Office, which is the obligation to inform the person in charge of her actions.

The Supreme Court finds that her passing the information to García Ortiz was justified and emphasizes that Rodríguez was not involved in drafting the press release. Thus, the high court concludes that the Madrid prosecutor bears no criminal responsibility and considers it "possible" that "she did not realize the potential legal consequences of the publication or did not want to contradict the opinion of her superior." In any case, the judges consider that "she did not have the capacity to supervise or impede the initiative of the Attorney General."

The dissenting opinion: there is not enough evidence.

Judge Andrés Palomo, on the other hand, disagrees with the decision of the other two judges and maintains that there is insufficient evidence against García Ortiz. He criticizes the fact that the case has been pursued when a "solid basis of evidence" could not be established and maintains that "under no circumstances is it required [of the Attorney General] to prove his innocence [...] It is the accusations that must prove his position," something that, in his opinion,