Unprecedented trial of Spain's attorney general over revelation of secrets kicks off

The first half of the trial of Spain's attorney general over revealing secrets took place this week. In a bizarre situation, it is the first time that a head of the prosecution service has been in the dock tried by his own peers and subordinates, except that Álvaro García Ortiz chose not to sit in the seat in the courtroom normally reserved for the defendant, but instead on the side bench alongside his lawyers and judicial colleagues.

In what the government claims is a politically motivated trial without substance, García Ortiz is accused of leaking an email with details of a tax investigation against the partner of the leader of the Madrid region, a political opponent. The case centres on whether the attorney general personally spread the document or whether, as he and his government colleagues claim, the leak came from a member of the press.

García Ortiz himself will testify next week. This week it was the turn of various key witnesses. The former leader of the PSOE opposition party in the Madrid regional assembly, who was the first to reveal the letter, testified that he believed the message was already in the public domain. Juan Lobato, who is himself a tax inspector, was less clear on where the leak came from when pressed, however.

Also unsure of what actually happened is the person who passed Lobato the copy of the email, ex-senior political head of the PSOE party, Pilar Sánchez Acera. She said the message did not come from the attorney general but from somebody in the media, although she said she could not remember who, and that her mobile messages had been lost when she moved jobs - as those of the attorney aeneral over that period have also been when he changed phones. The trial continues next week.