The CGPJ is divided in two by the presence of the Attorney General of the State

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) was practically split in two yesterday by the presence today of the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, who is being prosecuted for revealing secrets and awaiting trial, at the opening ceremony of the judicial year, which the King will preside over at the Supreme Court.

The ten conservative members, who had been announcing a response for days, finally asked the president of the judiciary's body, Isabel Perelló, in a letter to urge García Ortiz to absent himself from the ceremony, where he is due to present the 2024 Prosecutor's Office report. Specifically, they asked him to inform the Attorney General "of the inconvenience of participating in the event under the current circumstances." They also asked that the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, not take a seat on the bench to demonstrate the judiciary's rejection of "the unfair and unjustified attacks on judges by the Executive."

Shortly before, the conservative associations of judges and prosecutors also issued a statement expressing their "rejection" of the Attorney General's presence.

Nine progressive members of the General Council of the Judiciary responded to these maneuvers in a letter in which they called on their colleagues, without naming them, for "constitutional loyalty," because, as they pointed out, the Organic Law of the Judiciary requires the presence of the Attorney General at the event. They also defended the "well-established constitutional" custom of the Minister of Justice sitting in court alongside the King. The nine progressive members emphasized that "trust in the pillars of the democratic rule of law is built by scrupulously guaranteeing the principle of legality and the presumption of innocence."

For his part, Council member Carlos Hugo Preciado, who did not endorse the text, expressed his displeasure at "it not being institutionally correct for the CGPJ to enter into partisan debate" and recalled that last Wednesday "the King received the prosecutor with absolute normality" and that "the CGPJ should follow that example."