The situation in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office is left after the conviction of the Supreme Court against Alvaro Garcia Ortiz It is heartbreaking for those of us who love this institution at the service of all of society. Years thrown away and decades of reputational decline despite the effort and daily work of the members of the tax career.
The head of one of the main constitutional magistrates has been convicted of an intentional crime, that of revealing secrets, in the exercise of his functions.
It is an unprecedented event in the world. All over the world.
Sitting as an accused or contemplating a record of the Attorney General’s Office were also already.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office is neither a talk show nor a commentator on reality, and the publication of a statement compromising the impartiality of the institution (an aspect that extends to the appearance of impartiality in its actions) was already of incalculable seriousness and incomprehensibly overweight.
As the majority association of prosecutors, we therefore asked for his resignation at the time. The Prosecutor’s Office has no story, it is only inspired by the law.
The State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, upon leaving the Supreme Court.
It is clear that this action was not appropriate and now it has been confirmed that it is also criminal..
It was not appropriate, it was not the time, it compromised possible actions in a criminal proceeding and, furthermore, it had inadequate content and a purpose inappropriate for an institution at the service of all.
As an association we do not exercise the accusation in this procedure and we omit any parallel trial in public opinion. As prosecutors, we know that trials must be technical. We were prepared for a conviction or acquittal sentence, without passion.
Since his indictment by the Supreme Court we insisted on the resignation of the attorney general because remaining in office compromised the institution even more.
And by faith he has dragged himself, raising the procedure that affected him as a person like an imaginary struggle between constitutional institutions. It’s incomprehensible.
Society may know this part. The exercise of his position has other shadows, especially the disregard of the only democratic counterweight of the institution: the Fiscal Council.
The story doesn’t end here. We do not know what possible resources are going to be raised.
Once the sentence is final, the law that regulates the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and its regulations determine his disqualification to serve as attorney general and, in addition, his loss of the status of career prosecutor, prior to a file opened for this purpose in the State Attorney General’s Office, without legal alternative.
The Government of the Nation, in addition to issuing resolutions that imply his dismissal as attorney general and as career prosecutor, must open the way to designate whoever should replace him.
And the record is discouraging.
The Supreme Court annulled the appointment of Dolores Delgado. The recovery of the prestige of an institution that works for all Spaniards is a crucial need for the proper functioning of the rule of law.
The European institutions that analyze the evolution of the rule of law in Europe (European Commission, European Parliament, Venice Commission, etc.) have been taking note for some time of the partisan use of Spanish institutions in the face of an evident colonization from politics that does not only happen with my beloved institution (see the example of the Bank of Spain).
It is time to insist on our full confidence in the rule of law, in the Spanish Justice system and in its judges and courts, as well as in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, who will know how to overcome this hard blow and continue working in defense of the rights and freedoms of citizensas our Constitution mandates.
*** Cristina Dexeus is president of the Association of Prosecutors (AF).