PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo accused the government president of “interfering with the Supreme Court” and “violating the independence of the judiciary,” as he said in an interview with El Paz newspaper this weekend, saying the state’s attorney general was “innocent” of the accusations of disclosing secrets that are the subject of a trial. “Nothing like this has ever happened in 50 years of democracy,” he said, adding, “The fact that the president of the government intervenes in the Supreme Court is a sign of a lack of quality and democratic ethics. They are done, so they will just fight in front of the judges and thunderbolt autonomous communities.”
The majority party in the race, the Association of Prosecutors (AF), also released a statement on Monday deploring the remarks of government President Pedro Sánchez in an interview with El Paz newspaper, in which he defended the innocence of state Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz, who is standing before the Supreme Court on charges of leaking secrets.
“The Association of Prosecutors wishes to demonstrate that constitutional institutions must act with neutrality and therefore regrets that the President of the Government of El Paz has interfered with the judicial function that corresponds only to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court must carry out an honest evaluation of the evidence and evidence on record and of the evidence given in the oral proceedings,” the prosecution said in a statement.
They therefore believe that Sanchez’s words are an attempt to delegitimize the courts and put pressure on judges and prosecutors, pointing out that “trying to take away these functions violates the constitutional principles governing the rule of law, and they only intend to pressure and delegitimize the courts.” The statement concludes with a warning that both institutions and those who lead them must “respect each other” and “respect the people to whom they are responsible.”
“I believe in justice and I believe that the truth will ultimately prevail in these two cases. And in the case that is currently on the front page and occupying the debates this week, the trial of the state attorney general, the government continues to believe in his innocence, especially after seeing everything,” Sánchez declared to EL PAÍS in an interview published this Sunday.
The state attorney general’s case in the Supreme Court is halfway through. Three of the six scheduled sessions have already taken place. In the first three days, half of the 40 witnesses cited gave testimony. According to some of them, no reliable evidence has been found that it was Alvaro García Ortiz who leaked the contents of the email in which the lawyer of Alberto González Amador, a partner of Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, admitted to committing two tax crimes, because it was already known to several journalists before the attorney general received the email.
The remaining three sessions of the trial (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week) will feature key testimony, including a statement examined by the Attorney General, scheduled for the penultimate session. Before that, 20 more witnesses are scheduled to appear in court, including the Cadena SER journalist who provided the first information about the February 2 email, the leak being investigated by the Supreme Court.