The conviction of the state attorney general for the crime of revealing secrets has shaken the political arena. The parties of the left of the PSOE did not take long to react to the sentence which imposes a two-year disqualification, a fine of 7,200 euros and compensation of 10,000 euros on the entrepreneur Alberto González Amador. Sumar, minority partner of the government, and the parliamentary formations partners to the left of the PSOE see in the Supreme Court’s decision an example of an attack by the judiciary against the Executive, as well as a questioning of the exercise of journalism.
For Sumar, the Supreme Court ruling is “proof” of a political struggle led by the judiciary. “The conviction of the Attorney General is the clearest evidence that some sectors of the judiciary have decided to enter into a political struggle against the government,” sources from the PSOE partner reacted on Thursday. In a statement released to the media, the coalition underlines that the sentence is based on “weak evidence and without a single direct proof of information leak” and that, therefore, “it can only be understood as an attempt to interfere in the democratic life” of the country.
“For Sumar, this case has an absolute institutional gravity. What happened is a real judicial coup: a case built on simple suspicions, unsupported inferences and internal contradictions highlighted even in individual votes. We will not accept that the rule of law is used to destabilize a legitimate government”, declared the executive partner, who questions the “impunity” of Ayuso’s chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, “which he recognized in the very process of having a hoax leaked.” “It was the environment of the president of the Community of Madrid who spread the first false version, while her partner, who was tried and had tax crimes recognized in his communications, was looking for an agreement to avoid prison. Today, those who have denied a lie are attacked, not those who invented it”, Sumar denounces.
The formation also considers it “very serious” that the trial has put the work of journalism “under suspicion”. “Several professionals confirmed that they knew the content before it reached the Prosecutor’s Office and that they took advantage of professional secrecy to protect their sources, as stated in the judicial reports. Criminalizing the Prosecutor’s Office is unfair. Criminalizing journalism is authoritarian. And we will always be on the side of democracy, truth and public institutions”, he concludes.
Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, Verónica Barbero, also questioned Álvaro García Ortiz’s conviction. “The judicial and media offensive against the State Attorney General seeks to cover up the corruption scandals that point to Ayuso and his partner. A conviction without evidence that must be challenged. ‘Whoever can force him to do it,’ he published on his social network account Bluesky referring to the phrase uttered by the former president of the government José María Aznar.
The ERC spokesperson also harshly accused. Gabriel Rufián linked the sentence to the case affecting Isabel Díaz’s partner Ayuso and to the sudden dismissal of the previous president of the PP from the leadership of his party. “Ayuso’s brother. 280,000 euros in commissions. Who gets them? Pablo Casado. Ayuso’s boyfriend. 350,000 euros in commissions. Who gets them? The state attorney general. The message is clear: Ayuso doesn’t touch him”, he published on
In subsequent statements, Rufián explained. “On days like these, Catalan and Basque independentists, but also trade unionists and some journalists, seem to come from the future. For a long time, a part of the judiciary has been involved in politics and uses the robe to go against certain people, movements, parties and ideas. The difference is that this is happening to the PSOE now, and it is happening to the PSOE in the government,” said the Esquerra spokesperson. “There is a part of the judiciary that has been carrying out coups for a long time, because coups are carried out on the set and in the courtroom, it is so difficult,” he added. And he wanted to underline that this Thursday, November 20th, when we mark the 50th anniversary of Franco’s death, “is a good day to remember that many judges went to bed as Francoists and told us that they woke up as democrats”. “Beyond the condemnation of the state attorney general, the message is clear: Ayuso cannot be touched. He is the great white hope of that entire part of the state that goes against the government”, insisted Rufián. “While Ayuso’s brother earned his living with bribes in the worst phase of the pandemic and his partner also enriched himself with bribes in the worst phase of the pandemic, since the one who comes out is the Attorney General of the State,” summarized the Catalan politician. And he sends a message to the PSOE: “I think it must stop highlighting itself, as when the power of the CGPJ was shared with the PP, managing to reach an agreement with other political formations.”
In line with the initial reactions of the left-wing parties, the federal coordinator of Izquierda Unida, Antonio Maíllo, criticized the Supreme Court’s decision. “The conviction of the Attorney General shows that the institutions are captured by law and impunity. Does anyone doubt what it is? 50 years after Franco’s death there is still a task of democratic cleansing. It is a shame”, the IU leader spread on his Telegram channel. For the party’s parliamentary spokesperson and head of Justice of Sumar’s group, Enrique Santiago, García Ortiz is condemned “without anyone having proven his guilt and without the right to a second instance appeal”. Inform Paolo Choza.
Compromís sources in Congress maintain that the condemnation of the Attorney General “by five conservative judges of the Supreme Court is nothing more than proof of a light blow against the Government and against the plurinational and progressive majority”. They claim that it is a “black day that puts at risk the freedom of the press and the protection of sources” and underline that for them “it also puts at risk the presumption of innocence” in Spain. Furthermore, they charge that there was a “clear case of law” which “requires a strong and united response from the left”. Reports Oscar Martinez.
On the contrary, the deputy spokesperson of the Vox parliamentary group, José María Figaredo, evaluated the sentence, denouncing what he considers “a new milestone in the shame of a government, that of Sánchez, which accumulates charges investigated or convicted: Cerdán, Ábalos, Begoña, his brother, the attorney general…”. Furthermore, paraphrasing Sánchez – who had foreseen a request for forgiveness from the Attorney General when his innocence was proclaimed – he ironically said: “Who will apologize to the Spaniards? Will Sánchez come out to ask for forgiveness? Will the public prosecutor come out?” Thus, Figaredo called for elections – “if the government had any shame it would call them today,” he said – and guaranteed total opposition to this government until the polls returned. Inform Javier Casqueiro. The president of ultra formation, Santiago Abascal, expressed the same idea in
The PNV asked to wait to analyze the ruling, even as its spokeswoman in Congress, Maribel Vaquero, expressed her shock at the significance of the Supreme Court’s decision. “We will analyze the sentence in depth to be able to make a calm analysis, but the first impression is one of perplexity. Impunity for those who admit to having lied? The judicialization of politics harms us all”, he published on his account
Junts set up his own profile and did not evaluate the sentence itself. “We Catalans are the least surprised by this result. We know the Supreme Court and we know “who the Prosecutor’s Office depends on”. Let us remember that the PSOE and the PP joined the CGPJ. Spanish corruption is institutionalised, today Genoa, tomorrow Ferraz”, said the parliamentary spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, who added: “For the PSOE, justice stops being fair when it hits them”.
