Spain’s chief prosecutor has announced his resignation after the supreme court found him guilty last week of leaking confidential information in a case involving a leading opposition figure’s partner.
The unprecedented case is a blow to the leftist coalition government of the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who appointed Álvaro García Ortiz in 2022 and has defended his innocence repeatedly.
In a letter seen by Reuters, García Ortiz said his decision to step down, before the sentence banning him from his post for two years, came from “profound respect” for judicial rulings.
“Though my decision stems directly from the ruling, I’m convinced that I’ve faithfully served the institution to which I am honoured to belong, with an unequivocal vocation for public service, a sense of duty and institutional loyalty,” read the letter to the justice minister, Félix Bolaños.
His departure was widely expected even though the supreme court has yet to give its rationale for the verdict and García Ortiz may still appeal before Spain’s constitutional court and ultimately the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
“We respect the court’s decision but do not agree with it,” a government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, told the state broadcaster TVE after García Ortiz’s resignation, adding that the lack of unanimity and notification of the verdict without a full ruling set a worrying precedent and had generated “stupefaction” among the public.
