Second blow of the Supreme Court to the appointments made by the State Attorney General, Alvaro Garcia Ortizfrom her predecessor in office, Dolores Delgado. If a few months ago the high court annulled the promotion to Chamber prosecutor, the highest category of the Career, this time it has agreed annul the appointment of the former head of the Public Ministry as prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights and Democratic Memory.
The Fourth Section of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber has adopted this decision after study three resources of the Association of Prosecutors (AF), the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors (APIF) and the anti-drug prosecutor Luis Ibáñez – who was a candidate for the same position – against the appointment of Delgado as head of Democratic Memory, a category that was also created shortly before the former attorney general was appointed.
The three appeals demanded that the Supreme Court declare the nullity of this appointment and take the proceedings back to the moment before Delgado’s appointment. The signatories alleged that the decision was invalid because GarcÃa Ortiz did not give the Fiscal Council the option to study whether it incurred a cause of incompatibilitysince Delgado’s partner—former National Court judge Baltasar Garzón—runs a foundation dedicated to the defense of Human Rights.
The head of the Public Ministry proposed appointing Delgado despite the fact that this He only received the votes of one member of the Progressive Union of Prosecutors (UPF)—an association to which both he and she belonged—and the two natural members. The other member of the UPF supported another candidate. The Fiscal Council, however, is an advisory body and it is the attorney general who has the final say. Finally, the Government appointed Delgado on June 13.
With this Tuesday’s ruling, the Supreme Court magistrates order, therefore, that the proceedings be reverted to that the advisory body of the Prosecutor’s Office pronouncesthis time yes, on whether or not the prohibition provided for in article 58.1 of the Organic Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (EOMF), relating to position compatibilities, applies.
The Supreme Court has annulled this appointment almost a month after the Council of Ministers executed the sentence by which the court itself ordered the annulment of Delgado’s promotion to the highest category as prosecutor of the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court, understanding that it occurred with “diversion of power” by the attorney general.
Once the ruling of the high court was known, the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarraconsiders that the State Attorney General can’t go on “not even one more minute” at the head of the Public Ministry after the “new setback, which he also believes is for the Government.
“Despite creating a tailored position for Dolores Delgado, the Supreme Court also annuls her promotion as prosecutor of Democratic Memory,” he added. That being said, number two of Alberto Núñez Feijóo has asked for the departure of the state attorney general: “The Prosecutor’s Office is not a placement agency. He can’t be there even one more minute,” he said in X.
For his part, the spokesperson for the Popular Group in Congress, Miguel Tellado, has pointed out that this “setback” confirms that “fortunately for those of us who believe in democracy and the separation of powers, The rule of law works, regardless of who it is.“. “Another setback from the Supreme Court to the State Attorney General and his boss Sánchez, that of ‘Who does the Prosecutor’s Office depend on?’ Well that’. And now there are three,” Tellado stated on the same social network after learning of the Supreme Court’s decision.
