This Wednesday an unprecedented event occurred in Spanish democracy: the office of the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortizhas been registered by the Civil Guard, by order of the Judge Ángel Luis Hurtadowho is investigating the case against him for alleged revelation of secrets, according to what the president’s boyfriend accuses him of Isabel Diaz Ayuso. The agents have seized his cell phone and other electronic devices.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Courtcompetent to investigate the certified persons, appointed the instructor of the case opened against the State Attorney General to Judge Ángel Luis Hurtadovery close to the president of the Chamber, Manuel Marchena.
Hurtado, who was the president of the court in the first trial of the ‘Gürtel case’signed this Wednesday the order to initiate preliminary proceedings against García Ortiz and then ordered the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard to enter the office of the attorney general, at the headquarters of the State Attorney General’s Officeto seize the prosecutor’s cell phone and other electronic devices. But he has not indicated what evidence he has against him to order the seizure of his cell phone.
The measure, which has been described as “unjustified”, “exaggerated” and “nonsense” by jurists consulted by Publicwas not considered as a possibility even by Álvaro García Ortiz himself, according to sources close to the attorney general.
He was aware that he would end up being investigated by the Supreme Court based on the complaint of the Ayuso’s boyfriend due to some alleged leaks that refuted precisely the hoax launched by the Madrid president’s entourage, but she did not imagine, according to these sources, that her office would be invaded by the Civil Guardand that the agents would take his cell phone, as happened this Wednesday.
The judge Luis Angel Hurtado He became socially known when he was part of the court of the first trial of Gürtel, in which the PP was condemned for profit. Hurtado cast a dissenting vote against that verdict. And during the trial he tried in every way to prevent Mariano Rajoy and the most notable former ministers of the PP will pass through the court as witnesses.
It is even remembered with a certain sarcasm in judicial circles when Hurtado ordered Rajoy to sit in the courtroom at the same height as the court, instead of occupying the lower seat reserved for witnesses.
That detail towards the President of the Government clashes with the ways used with the state attorney generalalso declaring the investigation secret to further aggravate García Ortiz’s situation, once he has refused to resign and has proclaimed his innocence.
An expired appointment
It is also notable that after that role in the National Court, trying to save the PP, Ángel Luis Hurtado was appointed to the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court by a General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) in office, on September 30, 2020, when his mandate had expired for almost two years.
Only progressive members Concepción Sáez and Álvaro Cuesta They voted blank; The rest voted in favor of Hurtado’s appointment, that is, all the other members proposed by the PSOE for the CGPJ voted what the president of the Council at the time, Carlos Lesmes, wanted.
In that plenary session in which Hurtado was elected, other important appointments were also made in the judicial leadership, at a time when the Legislative Branch It was proposed to prevent the fever of appointments of conservative judges that was taking place in the CGPJ of Lesmes. Finally, the law was reformed in March 2021 so that when the CGPJ is in office, it cannot make appointments at the top.
Leaks
The fake news that the attorney general wanted to deny with a press release indicated that it had been the Prosecutor’s Office that had offered a pact to Alberto González AmadorAyuso’s partner, in the context of the tax crime for which he was being investigated. But in reality the one who requested the pact so as not to have to go to trial was Ayuso’s boyfriend, recognizing a tax fraud of 350,000 euros.
Gonzalez Amador denounced the attorney general, the chief prosecutor of Madrid and the prosecutor in his case for having leaked personal data in that press release, but the Supreme Court clarified last week that the investigation against García Ortiz is not because of the press release but rather for the alleged leak of emails between González Amador’s lawyer and the prosecutor in the case.
These antecedents have led to the unprecedented decision of Judge Hurtado: the search of the office of the state attorney general. Against this decision there is an appeal for reform before the instructor himself or an appeal before the Criminal Chamber.
Legal sources highlight that although Hurtado has not indicated the specific evidence that points to the attorney general as to being the author or having ordered the leak of said emails, he has ordered against him the measure of greatest interference in the right of an investigated person, such as unrestricted access to your mobile, computer, to your papers and files.
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