The Supreme Court will try the attorney general between November 3 and 13.

MadridThe Attorney General of the State He no longer had any chance of avoiding the trialThe Supreme Court had already announced the composition of the court that will try him, with a conservative majority, and only the dates of the oral hearing remained to be announced. This Friday, the high court announced that it will be held from November 3 to 13. There will be six sessions, morning and afternoon, spread over two weeks to determine whether Álvaro García Ortiz was the one who leaked the email in which Isabel Díaz Ayuso's boyfriend admitted to tax fraud before the Prosecutor's Office. Alberto González Amador will, in fact, be one of the witnesses in the trial, along with the chief of staff of the Madrid president, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (MÁR). A total of 40 witnesses will testify.

Now, these two people, from the closest circle to the leader of the Madrid People's Party (PP), will be the highlights of the trial. García Ortiz's defense strategy is to single them out. In its provisional conclusions, the State Attorney's Office, which is defending the Attorney General, requested to be subpoenaed, accusing MÁR, Ayuso's right-hand man, of having orchestrated an operation "from within the institutional apparatus of the Community of Madrid" to spread false information to protect González Amador. Specifically, what the President of Madrid's entourage spread was that it was the Prosecutor's Office that had offered a deal, when it was the other way around. The objective, says the Attorney General, was to create an "alternative narrative" to present Ayuso's partner as "the victim of a political operation."

García Ortiz maintains that he acted to counter this story with a press release from the State Attorney General's Office, although he denies having leaked the email to the press before issuing the statement. According to the investigating judge and the prosecution, it is clear that it was him—thus committing the crime of revealing secrets of which he is accused—because he maneuvered to obtain González Amador's defense email and, among other indications, deleted the messages he sent that day. At the trial, both versions will be compared with the appearances as witnesses of eight other prosecutors, two other press officers from the Prosecutor's Office, twelve journalists, and eleven Civil Guard officers.

Four politicians will also be required to appear. In addition to MÁR, former leader of the Madrid Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Juan Lobato, as well as former officials from the Moncloa (Ministry of Justice), Pilar Sánchez Acera and Francesc Vallès, will testify. They exchanged WhatsApp messages with the mail the day after some media outlets revealed the existence of the communication, which disproved Ayuso's version. Another witness will be attorney Carlos Neira, from González Amador's defense team, who sent the email to the Prosecutor's Office. The Supreme Court, on the other hand, has rejected the possibility of testifying for the current leader of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) in Madrid, Óscar López, as well as the former number three of the Socialists, Santos Cerdán, who is being investigated for corruption within the same body and is in pretrial detention.

What are you up against?

While García Ortiz's defense and the prosecution are calling for his acquittal, the prosecution is seeking prison sentences for the state attorney general. Ayuso's partner is seeking a four-year prison sentence and €300,000 in compensation for the "moral damages caused" by the leak of a confidential communication. The Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF), one of the popular prosecution groups, is raising the sentence request to six years in prison and twelve years of absolute disqualification from office.

In addition, the People's Party (PP) is maintaining political pressure on García Ortiz and the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who appointed him, with calls for his resignation. The Popular Party leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, echoed the Supreme Court's decision to set the trial date this Friday, denouncing the fact that a serving Attorney General is sitting in the dock as an "anomaly." He cited it as an example of the "deterioration of institutions," which he attributes to Sánchez's tenure.