Since this Monday, the Supreme Court welcomes Álvaro García Ortiz. It is the first time in democracy that the highest representative of the public ministry sits in the dock. The oral hearing, which is being promoted by Judge Ángel Hurtado, is scheduled to last until November 13. This is a key guide so you don’t get lost during the process:
What is the origin of the cause? Álvaro García Ortiz is accused of a crime of revealing secrets for, supposedly, having leaked an email sent to the Prosecutor’s Office by the lawyer of Alberto González Amador – boyfriend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), president of the Community of Madrid – to try to reach an agreement in the case that the political couple is dragging for an alleged fraud of more than 350,000 euros to the Treasury through a scheme of false invoices. The spread of that email occurred in March 2024, after The World published distorted information stating that the public ministry had proposed an agreement to González Amador (when it had actually been the other way around); and after Ayuso’s chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, had retired due to political orders. At that time, the popular leader was cornered by the scandal.
What evidence is put on the table? During the investigation, no evidence was found that the attorney general facilitated this email to the media or give orders to do so. Instructor Ángel Hurtado’s attempts to prove the origin of the leak came to nothing, despite the provincial chief prosecutor of Madrid, in addition to seizing his phones and electronic devices.
This is one of the great keys to the trial, which explains why there is so much criticism against the investigative judge’s decision to send the attorney general to the bench (later endorsed by ). Hurtado considered that there is enough evidence to judge him; but, as stated in his own resolutions, his thesis is based on two main elements: that García Ortiz received the email before it was published in the press; and that he deleted the content of his electronic devices.
How does the defense counterattack? The defense, carried out by the State Attorney’s Office, and the Prosecutor’s Office combat precisely these two indications. On the one hand, they state that more than twenty people had access to that email before García Ortiz; and that half a dozen journalists stressed that they knew its content (in whole or in part) before the highest representative of the public ministry received it in his email. Furthermore, the attorney general dissociated the deletion of his cell phone from the case opened against him: “The devices and the attorney general’s own office house an absolutely unimaginable amount of data.” […] I delete everything, not only because I exercise my free right to handle my terminal as I want, “.
How many days does the trial last? The Supreme Court has planned that the oral hearing will take place over six sessions spread over two weeks. The court has reserved the mornings and afternoons of November 3, 4, 5, 11, 12 and 13.
Who makes up the court? : Andrés Martínez Arrieta, current president of the Criminal Chamber; his predecessor in office, Manuel Marchena; Antonio del Moral; Carmen Lamela; Juan Ramón Berdugo; Susana Polo; and Ana Ferrer. The majority (Marchena, Del Moral, Lamela and Berdugo) are placed in the conservative sector; two (Polo and Ferrer), in the progressive; and Andrés Martínez Arrieta, member of the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association (AJFV), some define him as a moderate conservative and others as a progressive moderate.
Who accuses? The Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, which represents García Ortiz’s defense, . They will face seven accusations. On the one hand, the private one, exercised by Díaz Ayuso’s boyfriend, who and four years of special disqualification for the position of attorney general, in addition to three years of suspension from employment and a fine of 108.00 euros. And, on the other hand, the six popular accusations: the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid (ICAM), which also asks for four years in prison and which originally justified its initiative by the dissemination of a press release that it considered criminal (although the Supreme Court itself later ruled it out); the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF), openly opposed to García Ortiz, who requests six years in prison; and the ultra groups Hazte Oír, Vox, Manos Cleans and Fundación Foro Libertad y Alternativa, which also propose four years of imprisonment.
Who testifies? The court has designed a very intense calendar, with days full of statements. In total, the magistrates have scheduled the appearances of 29 witnesses and 11 agents from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard. But who are all of them? When is each one mentioned?
3-N: the Prosecutor’s Office, the epicenter
The court has planned to begin on Monday, November 3, with the statements of six witnesses, all of them linked to the State Attorney General’s Office and the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office. The first cited is Julián Salto, the prosecutor who was handling the case of Ayuso’s boyfriend, who declared in an investigation that the leaked email did not contain “any private information, no secrets.” He will be followed by Pilar Rodríguez, head of the Madrid Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, who was prosecuted by Hurtado for allegedly participating in the dissemination of the ’email’, but the Chamber closed the case against her. Then comes the turn of Almudena Lastra, senior prosecutor of the Community of Madrid, who admitted that she called the attorney general to tell him that they were going to go out and deny Miguel Ángel Rodríguez’s hoax. Next, the appearances of Diego Villafañe, chief prosecutor of the Technical Prosecutor’s Office, whom the instructor also charged; Mar Hedo and Íñigo Corral, respective heads of the press offices of the State Attorney General’s Office and the Community of Madrid Prosecutor’s Office.
4-N: the origin of the hoax
The day on Tuesday, November 4, will begin, according to the schedule, with the interrogations of two other prosecutors: Esmeralda Rasillo, from the Support Unit for the State Attorney General’s Office; and Diego Lucas Álvarez, who also led part of the investigations into González Amador. From then on, the calendar lands on the maneuvers conceived in the Presidency of the Community of Madrid to spread lies about the public ministry, with the statement of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez; who will be followed by Ayuso’s boyfriend and his lawyer, Carlos Neira. The summons of Francesc Vallés, who was Secretary of State for Communication until La Moncloa replaced him in December 2024, has also been scheduled for this day.
5-N: jump to the PSOE
The court has established that the session on Wednesday, November 5, will begin with the appearance of Juan Lobato, former general secretary of the PSOE of Madrid, who went to a notary to record some WhatsApp messages that he exchanged on the morning of March 14 (when the media had already spread the content of the leaked ’email’) with Pilar Sánchez Acera, current Secretary of Organization of the Madrid socialists and who then worked at La Moncloa. Sánchez Acera, who is also summoned to trial this day, sent Lobato that day a copy of the email under suspicion and, when asked how they had obtained it, she said: “Because it arrives, the media has it.” Behind them are six journalists who published information about the case: Isaac Blasco, from ‘Vozpopuli’; Olivia Moya, from ‘Digital Freedom’; Esteban Urreiztieta, from ‘El Mundo’; Alfonso Pérez Medina, from La Sexta; and José Precedo and Marcos Pinheiro, from ‘Eldiario.es’. Urreiztieta, who signed the first distorted information about González Amador’s alleged pact with the Prosecutor’s Office, admitted in investigation that his sources were providing him with data about the conversations between the defense of Ayuso’s boyfriend and the public ministry. Pérez Medina and Precedo also reported that they had access to the content of the email before it reached the attorney general.
11-N: journalists
The calendar prepared foresees that the day of November 11 will begin with the statement of Eugenio Ribón, dean of ICAM. At the beginning of the case, in an interview with EL PAÍS, Ribón justified that the ICAM had denounced the Prosecutor’s Office for the dissemination of a press release by the public ministry to dismantle the Ayuso PP hoax; and, as he added, the College’s action was limited solely to that statement. However, when the Supreme Court ruled that the issuance of that note was a crime (since the press had already published the data it contained), the ICAM maintained its accusation and assured that the note was part of an alleged plan to leak the information. According to the calendar, after Ribón, María Antonia Sanz, chief prosecutor of the Inspection of the State Attorney General’s Office, has been summoned; and Agustín Hidalgo, delegated prosecutor for Data Protection. Then the turn of six other journalists was scheduled: Miguel Ángel Campos, from Cadena SER; Cynthia Coiduras, from ‘El Plural’; José Manuel Romero, who was deputy director of EL PAÍS; and Fernando Peinado, Berta Ferrero and Juan José Mateo, also from EL PAÍS. The Cadena SER editor already said that he had obtained the leaked email before it reached the attorney general. And the EL PAÍS journalists also stressed that they handled details of that information before García Ortiz.
12-N: the UCO
The court has reserved Wednesday, November 12 for the UCO civil guards. The magistrates plan to first hear as witnesses three agents who participated in the entry and search of the attorney general’s office; to five others who did the same in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Madrid; and the official who was in charge of dumping García Ortiz’s electronic devices. Later, as experts, three agents have been summoned (one of whom is also called as a witness) who prepared reports with the seized material, including the one that attributed to the highest representative of the public ministry “a preeminent role in the leak.”
When does the attorney general testify? The magistrates estimate that García Ortiz will testify in the session on November 12, when the interrogations of witnesses and Civil Guard agents are finished. In this way, the Supreme Court consolidates a practice that it promoted with the trial of the process to reinforce the exercise of the right of defense: that the accused can answer the questions in the final phase of the hearing. The court expects the trial to end the next day (November 13), with the presentation of the conclusions of all parties.
Can it be seen live? The Supreme Court has decided that, unlike what happened with the trial of the processthe hearing against the attorney general. In addition, the magistrates have also restricted the use that the press may make of the images captured from the sessions through the court’s internal signal.
