Madrid, Nov 5, 2025 (AFP)
A journalist on Wednesday denied in court receiving confidential information from Spain's top prosecutor, whose unprecedented trial on accusations of leaking documents to damage the political opposition has embarrassed the government.
Alvaro Garcia Ortiz is the first serving attorney general to face trial in Spanish history, in one of several legal affairs dogging Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority coalition.
He is accused of leaking case files about businessman Alberto Gonzalez Amador, who is under investigation for alleged tax fraud and the partner of Isabel Diaz Ayuso, Madrid's influential right-wing leader.
In 2024, media reports based on leaked correspondence suggested Gonzalez Amador had proposed a plea deal, admitting the alleged offences to avoid a trial and imprisonment.
Jose Precedo of the El Diario digital outlet, the journalist who first reported the correspondence, told the court Garcia Ortiz "never passed me a document in the 22 years of my career".
"I know he is innocent because I know the source, but I cannot reveal it due to professional secrecy," Precedo added.
Ayuso's conservative Popular Party accuses the Socialist-appointed Garcia Ortiz of orchestrating the leak to damage her, which he denied on the trial's opening day on Monday.
Garcia Ortiz, due to testify on November 12, faces several years in prison and a potential ban from practising law if convicted.
His lawyers have described him as a target of a campaign by the Madrid regional government to distract from Gonzalez Amador's legal troubles and protect Ayuso.

Sumber : AFP