The solemn opening ceremony of the Judicial Year at Spain’s Supreme Court, presided over by King Felipe VI, has this year turned into an unusual and shameful spectacle: the Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, delivered his address despite being formally charged with an alleged crime of breach of secrecy.
It is the first time in Spain’s history that the head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office attends this ceremony as a defendant, demonstrating how far the PSOE has contaminated the state institutions.
García Ortiz opened his speech with an explicit reference to his judicial situation, acknowledging that he was “fully aware of the singular circumstances” surrounding his appearance and proclaiming his belief “in Justice, in the rule of law, and in the truth.” He was nervous but clinging to his office and insisted: “If I am here as attorney general, it is because I believe in the institutions.”
Empty words, however, that failed to conceal the unease within the Supreme Court itself, where many magistrates consider that García Ortiz should have resigned long ago out of institutional responsibility.
The case against him is not a minor one. The Supreme Court’s investigating magistrate has confirmed his indictment for allegedly leaking confidential information about the partner of Madrid’s regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. This is a serious offense, punishable by up to six years in prison, which could place the head of the Prosecutor’s Office in the dock. The Independent and Professional Association of Prosecutors (APIF) has already requested his immediate suspension once the trial order is issued to prevent the accused from giving instructions to the prosecutor designated to intervene in his own case.
The mere presence of García Ortiz in the Plenary Hall, seated alongside the King, the president of the General Council of the Judiciary, and Justice Minister Félix Bolaños, is interpreted by broad sectors of the judiciary as an act of contempt for the rule of law. Associations of judges and prosecutors had demanded his absence, while ten members of the CGPJ formally requested that he not intervene. Nevertheless, the attorney general, supported by Pedro Sánchez’s government, did not budge an inch.
The contrast was even more striking given the solemnity of the setting. The King fulfilled his institutional role by receiving the annual report of the Prosecutor’s Office from the hands of a defendant—an unprecedented humiliation for the Crown. Several attendees described it as a “historic disgrace”–never before had the Head of State been forced to preside over a ceremony in which one of the country’s highest judicial authorities appeared charged with a crime directly related to his own office.
What happened this Friday is not an isolated episode but a symptom of Spain’s institutional deterioration. The PSOE, determined to shield its allies despite scandals, has brought the Attorney General’s Office to the brink of discredit. Far from defending the impartiality of justice, it has turned the highest representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office into a symbol of suspicion.
