The judge of the National Court investigating the Democratic Tsunami platform, Manuel García-Castellón, authorized the agents of the Civil Guard to install a "remote software" on the mobile of the former deputies of the CUP in the Parliament David Fernández and Quim Arrufat and in that of the former deputy of Catalonia Sí que es Pot in the Catalan Chamber between 2015 and 2017 and former leader of Podemos in Catalonia, Alberto Dante Fachin.
This is stated in part of the summary of the case, in which the judge investigates for terrorism the riots led by the Tsunami Democràtic platform in the fall of 2019 in response to the procés ruling, which caused street riots, roadblocks and even the blockade of El Prat airport. and points to the alleged responsibility of former president Carles Puigdemont and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, among others.
According to El País and confirmed by legal sources, the instructor gave the order to the Benemérita to intervene in the mobile devices of Fernández and Arrufat as well as Dante Fachin in January 2020, a few months after the agents asked the judge to take this measure. . In the case of the former CUP deputy, the judge authorized the tap between January and March 2020, a time during which Civil Guard agents found access impossible "due to technical computer issues."
Something similar happened with Joan Matamala, a businessman close to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, regarding whom access could not materialize "due to technical reasons", according to the report, from May 2020, in which the armed institute asked to extend the measure. .
The objective was, as the judge argued, to find out or discover "facts and circumstances that could be directly related to the alleged commission of the crime of terrorism in its form of substances that cause serious harm, the object of this procedure."
In said order, the judge granted "a role not only of dynamism but also of ideologue" to Fernández and Arrufat and recalled that, according to a police report, the former was "the first person to coin the name in November 2014", possibly when He said that the 9N participatory consultation was a "democratic tsunami against a demophobic State" in a public event reported by the media.
As the judge then reflected in his resolution, both would act as "communicators of the Tsunami messages, actively participating not only in the dissemination, but also in the actions themselves."
From the documentation contained in the summary, it is clear that the magistrate also gave the green light for the Armed Institute to act on the telephone number of the activist Martí Olivella, or that of the computer scientists Jordi Baylina and David Franquet.
In addition, according to the aforementioned sources, access was also authorized to the terminal of Elías Campo, a member of the Citizen Lab think tank, who uncovered the alleged espionage with Pegasus on Catalan activists and politicians. Campo was already identified by the Civil Guard as one of the external collaborators for the development of the Vocdoni project, an application for mobile phones that allows mass voting.
The National Court also authorized in May 2020 to tap the telephone for a month, until June, of the then president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce Joan Canadell - who in 2021 left this position when he was elected deputy for JxCat in the Parliament -, request from the Civil Guard, which highlighted its importance in creating parallel structures to finance instruments linked to the independence process.
According to an order of October 10, 2019 by which the measure to intervene in two terminals was agreed, the program used was software that allows, "remotely and telematically, the remote examination and without the knowledge of its owner or user." .
This software allows access, among others, to the contact book, the video call log, the email account associated with the mobile phone, the web browsing history and communications on social networks. It also allows you to activate the device's microphone to "capture and record oral communications," according to the details of the car to which Europa Press has had access.
The aforementioned sources assure that, as with the previous ones, the same measure was agreed for another 40 cell phones belonging to other people under investigation. In the order in which the measure was adopted, the judge explained that he authorized the interventions "given the exceptional seriousness of the crimes committed," in reference to the indications of an alleged crime of terrorism.
One of the records shows that the investigators became aware, as a result of the installation of "remote software" on the mobile phone of a computer scientist allegedly linked to Tsunami, Montero de Quadras, of the "links of Martí Olivella" - to whom they refer. as "one of the leaders of the Catalan independence movement, member of the Novact Technical Team (International Institute for Non-Violent Action)" - with Tsunami Democràtic.
Likewise, the researchers managed to collect data "from a group called Think Cat: Estat 4.0, shared with the members of the self-proclaimed Think Cat79", among whom is Joan Canadell, according to the documentation included in the procedure.
Furthermore, according to the information extracted from Baylina's mobile terminal, "a network of seven digital companies established in Estonia has been identified, whose sole administrators or members of the board of directors are the same ones participating in the development" of the aforementioned Vocdoni project.
As a result of the installation of the "remote software" on the cell phones of those investigated, "the participation of Matamala" in the events could also be noted. The agents reached this conclusion thanks to a conversation that the businessman had with the also investigated Jordi Milla "in which they discuss logistical and organizational aspects of the implementation of what they call 'second wave' within the scope of the Consell per la República, concluding that local councils should be established, concentrating them by municipalities or regions".
