The Attorney General of the State, Teresa Peramato, has appealed to "reinforce confidence" in the Public Prosecutor's Office, both internally and towards citizens, and has defended the "legality" of the appointments made under her mandate, emphasizing that they have been decided "through decisions based on merit, capacity, and suitability for the position."
Peramato appeared this Friday before the Justice Committee of the Senate, at the request of the PP, which holds an absolute majority in the Upper House, to give explanations about her management at the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office, with special attention to her appointment policy.
The Attorney General had also been called to clarify what she was referring to when she spoke of "healing wounds" within the institution, as well as to report on the meetings of former high-ranking officials of the Attorney General's Office with people involved in the 'Leire Díez case'.
In relation to that expression, she explained that "I did it being fully aware of the context in which this expression was inserted," in allusion to the resignation of her predecessor, Álvaro García Ortiz, after being convicted by the Supreme Court for revealing secrets of Alberto González Amador, partner of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
As she specified, "those words were not intended in any case as an isolated or decontextualized assessment, but rather formed part of a responsible institutional diagnosis, accompanied by an express call for joint work, loyalty, and cohesion."
For this reason, she has called for "reinforcing and strengthening internal and also external confidence" in the Public Prosecutor's Office, through "consensus" and reinforcing "coherence in action, ensuring that legal criteria are applied, shared, and explained clearly."
Peramato has stressed that whoever holds the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office "cannot act as a commentator or opinion-maker on judicial action, as that would blur their institutional position and compromise the principles of objectivity and impartiality that govern our institution."
Appointments and defense of the independence of the Public Prosecutor's Office
When addressing his appointment policy, he pointed out that his objective is "to consolidate a model in which the independence of the Public Prosecutor's Office is articulated through decisions based on merit, capacity, and suitability for the position, thus configuring an institutional structure exclusively in the service of the law and free from any other consideration."
He maintained that the Public Prosecutor's Office intervened in the case relating to García Ortiz "exactly as required by the Constitution" and recalled that the "institutional position" of the Prosecutor's Office "is none other than to promote the action of justice in defense of legality, citizens' rights, and the public interest protected by law."
In this regard, he added that the action has been carried out "at all times" under strict adherence to legality and "impartiality," principles that "do not constitute mere formal proclamations, but true binding normative criteria for action."
He insisted that "the action of the Public Prosecutor's Office in this case has not undergone any variation" since he took office, which, in his opinion, "shows that exclusive attention has been paid to legal and objective criteria that have not depended on individuality, on any individual will of any kind."
During the trial of García Ortiz in the Supreme Court, which imposed a two-year disqualification from holding office, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested the acquittal of the former Attorney General and, after the conviction was known, appealed the sentence before the Constitutional Court and has expressed its favor for a partial pardon.
Accusations from PP and Vox and rejection of alleged purges
In the groups' turn, PP senator María José Pardo accused Peramato of "praising" a convicted person like García Ortiz and censured that the Public Prosecutor's Office acts as "the defense lawyer of sanchismo."
She also criticized that Leire Díez, who is under investigation by the National Court for allegedly maneuvering to halt judicial cases affecting the Government and the PSOE, has moved around the headquarters of the General Prosecutor's Office "as if she owned the place."
In the same vein, Vox senator Paloma Gómez denounced that Peramato's "main priority" would have been "to seek legal loopholes and jurisprudential shortcuts to relocate his convicted predecessor to the Supreme Court."
Gómez has added that a "purge" occurred in the Superior Prosecutor's Office of Madrid by not renewing Almudena Lastra as chief prosecutor for "the crime of acting with integrity and testifying truthfully in the García Ortiz trial".
Peramato has responded by rejecting that such purges have occurred and has explained that Lastra's replacement is part of institutional normality: "All positions are for five years".
Peramato demands institutional respect for the Prosecutor's Office
The Attorney General has called for "respect" for the Public Prosecutor's Office and has criticized that it has been "insinuated that the Prosecutor's Office belongs or that the Prosecutor's Office belongs or that it may be at the service of a criminal plot". "It seems to me that this is a complete lack of respect for the institution I represent," she has stated.
At the same time, she has expressed her "respect for the Judiciary" and for "magistrates and judges and their rulings". "When we disagree, we resort to the avenues, channels, and appeals that the Criminal Procedure Law allows us," she has pointed out.
On behalf of Esquerra Republicana, Senator Joan Queralt has argued that "what happened with the previous Attorney General of the State" was because "he defended the Amnesty Law" for the 'procés': "And that is a cardinal sin that the right, the far-right, and other like-minded living beings are not willing to forgive him for".
From the PSOE, Senator José María Oleaga has supported Peramato's management and has criticized the opposition for acting "like terrorism used to act, which dehumanized the opponent, objectified them, and accused them of all sorts of evils".