Overview
- The Penal Chamber that convicted Álvaro García Ortiz issued a formal, majority report unfavourable to a pardon request and sent the reasoned opinion into the executive pardon procedure.
- García Ortiz was criminally convicted for revealing reserved or confidential data in a case that led to a final judgment imposing penalties, including a special disqualification from serving as Attorney General.
- The court stressed that Spanish pardon law covers only penalties still in execution and not the underlying crime, noting the sole penalty still pending execution is the special disqualification from office.
- Judges said the leak was a grave breach of secrecy that materially damaged the institutional standing and independence of the public prosecutor's office and that petitioners failed to show reasons of justice, equity, or public utility to justify clemency.
- The report is non-binding but carries heavy weight in the Ministry of Justice's administrative review and means the disqualification will remain in force unless the government decides to grant a pardon.