García, singled out by the ‘judicial right’ since he acted as Dolores Delgado’s strong man, has been questioned this Tuesday by the Supreme Court
The new head of Justice, Felix Bolaños, who has added this portfolio to his responsibilities as Minister of the Presidency in the new Government, has already adopted adopt as his first relevant decision. The Council of Ministers on November 28 will confirm Alvaro Garcia Ortiz as State Attorney General until 2027.
The Attorney General’s mandate lasts four years and ends when the Government does so, and although García took office in July of last year, the start of the legislature resets the counter to zero: could remain in office for four more years.
The figure of García has been questioned by the majority of the race and the so-called judicial right since he made his first decisions giving ccontinuity to the mandate started by its predecessor, Dolores Delgado. This Tuesday, coinciding with the inauguration of Sánchez’s new Executive, García received two important setbacks: The Supreme Court annulled its decision to promote Delgado to the highest tax category for “diversion of power” and up to 18 Supreme Court prosecutors accused him of his equidistant role against mentions of lawfare in the pact with Junst that led to the investiture.
In relation to this last matter, it turns out that the Attorney General’s Office commanded by García is almost the only institution in the judicial field that has not reacted to the future Amnesty law or to the alleged existence of a judicial dirty war against the independence movement. , and this despite the fact that this was expressly requested by the four prosecutors who participated in the trial against the protagonists of the processes in it Supreme Court.
Upon receiving this request last week, García issued a statement in which he limited himself to pointing out that “any position of the Public Ministry regarding a future amnesty (…) requires knowing the definitive norm that regulates it once it is part of our system.” The reaction has not been long in coming, and this Tuesday up to 18 prosecutors from the two Criminal sections of the high court expressed their “disappointment” for his lack of will when it came to defending the work of his colleagues, both those who acted in the trial of processes like the prosecutors of Catalonia who have handled cases related to the 1-O.
On the other hand, García has yet to convene an Extraordinary Fiscal Council to rule on the amnesty after last November 15 six members of the majority Association of Prosecutors, of a conservative nature, they will request a Extraordinary meeting to evaluate the project. Perhaps due to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez and the formation of the new Government, on which the continuity of García himself depends, the call for this meeting has not yet taken place. It will foreseeably take place when the attorney general is no longer in office, sources from the institution tell this newspaper.
Power diversion
But the most serious questioning came from the Supreme Court. At the same time that Bolaños took office of his responsibilities in Justice at the Parcent Palace in Madrid, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the high court annulled, “due to misuse of power”, García’s decision to promote to the highest category of the Career, that of prosecutor of Sala, to former State Attorney General Dolores Delgado.
Although the decision that has been annulled does not correspond to his current responsibility as prosecutor of Democratic Memory – they refer to his first promotion as a togada prosecutor – the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision are not yet clear. From the high court it is pointed out that his current position is also affected, while García doubts this analysis and the matter will be resolved after an upcoming Fiscal Council, they point out to THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAIN, from the Prensa Ibérica group, sources from the Attorney General’s Office. In any case, García’s continuity at the head of this institution will be decisive for Delgado’s future.
This Wednesday, the Progressive Union of Prosecutors has expressed its “disagreement” with the Supreme Court ruling because the autonomy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is diminished. The case still has a journey in this body because the decision to place Delgado in the new Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights and Democratic Memory has also been appealed before the Supreme Court – it went ahead despite the fact that sseven members of the Fiscal Council did not participate in the deliberation – so García’s election may suffer a new setback in the coming weeks.
Questioned position
Another issue is the attorney general’s own consideration in the race. The majority Association of Prosecutors has been questioning his decisions since before his appointment, when he played the role of trusted man of his predecessor in office, Dolores Delgado, as head of the Technical Secretariat of the Prosecutor’s Office, especially for her performance in the so-called ‘Stampa case’.
In this regard, the decisions taken by the technical body that led to extend the internal investigation into Ignacio Stampa, one of the prosecutors in the macro case against Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. This investigation, opened following some information that was clearly falseabout the special relationship of the prosecutor with one of the lawyers of the Podemos prosecution, was fundamental in not granting him a pfixed noose in the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Officewhich led to his expulsion from the case.
Once García was appointed Attorney General, practically all of his appointments have been called into question – especially the promotion of Lola Delgado and her subsequent appointment to Democratic Memory – from a Fiscal Council whose composition has shown the loss of confidence of a majority sector of the race in the Progressive Union of Prosecutors association, to which García belonged along with Delgado, and which after the last elections has reduced its presence in the advisory body to only two members. The Association of Prosecutors has six representatives.
This association has repeatedly called for García’s resignation, both for “manipulating” the appointment of Delgado as soon as the last electoral call was announced and for his “passivity in defending the rule of lawthe effective separation of powers and the independence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office”, after learning of the investiture agreement.