The Supreme Court expects to rule on the attorney general this year.

The Supreme Court judge investigating the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, for alleged disclosure of secrets put the icing on the cake yesterday by setting bail at €150,000 for the prosecutor's deputy, in the same order ordering the opening of a trial against him. García Ortiz must pay this amount within five days or he will have his assets seized.

Judge Ángel Hurtado, who waited until the opening of the judicial year—an event not without controversy precisely because of García Ortiz's presence—believes that the Attorney General could be convicted of revealing secrets, a crime for which he faces up to six years in prison. The bail is a way to guarantee that, if this is the case, compensation will be paid to his alleged victim, Alberto González Amador, partner of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The businessman is seeking €300,000 in damages for moral and other losses caused, and the judge considers that half of the amount claimed should be secured.

The next step is for the Supreme Court's Criminal Division to appoint the court that will prosecute the prosecutor and set a date for the hearing. Legal sources suggest the trial could be held this fall, with a sentencing before the end of the year.

García Ortiz has been officially charged with disclosure of secrets, for which he faces a sentence of up to six years in prison, as requested by one of the popular accusations against him. However, the Prosecutor's Office has already requested a dismissal and, therefore, will not prosecute him.

The Government insists on supporting the accused while Núñez Feijóo demands his resignation or dismissal.

In his ruling, the investigating judge accuses the head of the public prosecutor's office of allegedly having provided a media outlet with the confidential content of an email that the lawyer for the Madrid president's boyfriend had sent to the prosecutor in the tax fraud case against him. In that email, the lawyer acknowledged his client's fraud and offered a plea agreement. The judge has recognized that González Amador authorized the publication of one of the three emails, intending to create the impression that there had been a political operation against the businessman because he was the partner of the Popular Party leader. The judge's argument is that even if the victim authorized the publication of one email, the Attorney General should have kept the rest of the emails confidential, even if it was to defend the integrity of the Prosecutor's Office.

For Hurtado, García violated his duty of discretion by leaking those emails. "Any disclosure to third parties without the authorization of the interested party, whose reputation could well be harmed by such disclosure, is unacceptable," he states in his ruling. Furthermore, the leak of the email, according to Hurtado, "calls into question the prestige of the institution, with the resulting damage."

However, the judge refuses to suspend García Ortiz from his position, and he has already publicly stated that he will remain as Attorney General because, in his opinion, it is the best way to defend the institution by claiming his innocence.

After the ruling was announced, the government once again expressed its support for the Attorney General. The Minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Parliamentary Relations, Félix Bolaños, insisted on his "total confidence in the Attorney General," but also in the Supreme Court justices who will judge him. "Let's let them work because the rule of law will surely prevail," he stated.

The Supreme Court is considering holding the trial in the fall and issuing the verdict this year.

For his part, the leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, once again called for the resignation of the Attorney General. "If the PSOE does not demand García Ortiz's resignation, we will accompany him to the bench," he stated in a message on the social network X. He concluded: "With his prosecutor and his brother on trial, his second-in-command in the party in prison, and his wife and former right-hand man indicted, it is clear that cleaning up this country requires changing the Prime Minister. And we will do it."