The Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court has unanimously supported the searches ordered by Judge Ángel Hurtado in the offices of the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, and of the also accused Pilar Rodríguez. Judges Julián Sánchez Melgar, Eduardo de Porres, and Andrés Palomo rejected the appeals filed by the State Attorney and the Prosecutor's Office against this procedure that they consider disproportionate and unnecessary.
In a 47-page ruling, the judges considered that it does not seem reasonable to attribute to a judicial body the investigation concerning privileges and then not be able to use the necessary instruments to do so when the required conditions are met. The obtaining of information to investigate the crime has been supported, as well as the factual and legal motivation of Judge Hurtado's rulings to justify his decisions.
The investigation into the leak of confidential data related to the fiscal file of the boyfriend of the Madrid president Isabel Díaz Ayuso was bolstered by the searches, especially the analysis of Rodríguez's phone.
The Chamber indicated that the investigated crime allowed for the searches and that the investigation was necessary. They also referred to the temporal scope of the investigation, acknowledging that it was initially extensive, inadequate, and unnecessary, but that it was subsequently narrowed by Judge Hurtado to the specific dates being investigated.
Regarding the voluntary surrender of devices, the Chamber mentioned that this possibility would have made the measure unnecessary, but that it cannot be taken into account due to the fundamental right to the presumption of innocence and the right of the investigated parties not to provide evidence. The Supreme Court's decision represents support for the instruction carried out by Judge Hurtado so far, whose actions have been questioned by the Attorney General and the Government.
