The leader of the People’s Party, Alberto Núñez Viejo, accused the head of government of “interfering before the Supreme Court” and “violating the independence of the judiciary” for saying, as he said this weekend in an interview with El Pais newspaper, that the state prosecutor is “innocent” of the charge of revealing the secrets for which he is being tried. He stated, “This has not happened at any time during 50 years of democracy,” pointing out that “the prime minister’s intervention before the Supreme Court is a symptom of the lack of democratic quality and morals. They are finished and have no choice but to fight in front of the judges and blow up the autonomous regions.”
The Association of Public Prosecutors (AF), the majority in this race, also published a statement on Monday in which it regretted the statements of the head of government, Pedro Sánchez, in his interview in El Pais newspaper, where he defended the innocence of the state prosecutor, Álvaro García Ortiz, who is on the bench of the Supreme Court accused of the alleged crime of revealing secrets.
“The Association of Prosecutors wants to show that constitutional institutions must act impartially and therefore regrets the interference of the President of the Government of the Pais in the judicial function that belongs exclusively to the Supreme Court, which must make a conscientious evaluation of the evidence and indications found in the records and those made in the oral proceedings,” the Prosecutors noted in a statement.
They therefore consider that Sánchez’s words seek to delegitimize the courts and pressure judges and prosecutors: “The attempt to usurp these functions is not in line with the constitutional principles governing the rule of law, and they only aim to pressure the courts and delegitimize them.” The statement concludes by warning that the two institutions and those who lead them “must respect each other” and “respect the citizens who are responsible to them.”
“I trust in justice and I believe that the truth will prevail in these two cases,” Sánchez told El Pais newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. “And in the case that is currently occupying the front pages and discussion this week, which is the trial of the state prosecutor, because the government still believes in his innocence, and even more so after everything we have seen.”
The state prosecutor’s trial in the Supreme Court is halfway through. Three of the six scheduled sessions have already been held. In these first three days, half of the forty witnesses cited testified. According to some of them, the content of the email in which the lawyer of Alberto Gonzalez Amador – partner of Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso – admitted to committing two tax crimes was already known to many journalists before the prosecutor received it, so no reliable evidence was found that it was Álvaro García Ortiz who leaked it.
The remaining three sessions of the trial (next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) will include basic testimony, including the confession as achieved by the scheduled public prosecutor in the penultimate session. Before that, 20 other witnesses will appear, including the Cadena SER journalist who gave the first information about the email of February 2, the leak being investigated by the Supreme Court.
About The Author
