The Supreme Court (TS) has assumed the thesis of the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón, who considers that the events attributable to Tsunami Democràtic after the sentencing of the process could constitute a crime of terrorism. Unanimously - and against the criteria of the Prosecutor's Office - the Criminal Chamber decided yesterday to open a criminal case to investigate the former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, for terrorism, considering that he had "absolute leadership" over the actions of the platform that encouraged the protests in Catalonia in the fall of 2019.
The High Court adopted this decision after analyzing the reasoned presentation given by the judge of the National Court, in which he explained the evidence he had collected to prove the alleged participation of the former president – and the deputy of the Catalan Parliament Ruben Wagensberg (ERC) – in the facts investigated. Since both are certified, the Supreme Court believes it is “necessary” and “pertinent” that they be heard in court as investigated “with all the rights and guarantees.” And this, due to its status as authorized, cannot be done by the National Court. The rest of the defendants in the case opened by García-Castellón will continue in this last court.
The order places all the emphasis on Puigdemont, pointing out that there is a “plurality of evidence” that would demonstrate “the functional mastery of the event, absolute leadership, intellectual authorship and assumption of the reins” by the former president. For the magistrates in the courtroom, the head of the Generalitat could have avoided Tsunami Democràtic actions by “withdrawing his charismatic support.” However, far from it, according to the Supreme Court's statement, he “encouraged them to continue with the violent actions” that were developed “with his knowledge and consent.” And they adopt the doctrine of the men from behind. “In a criminal organization, the men behind, who order crimes with autonomous command – and can avoid it – can, in this case, be responsible as indirect perpetrators, even when the immediate executors are, likewise, punished as fully responsible perpetrators,” they leave. black on white the magistrates.
Following in the wake of García-Castellón, the order emphasizes that “from the beginning” Puigdemont was informed of the constitution “of the group organized for the subversion of the constitutional order and serious destabilization of democratic institutions.” In the resolution, the High Court mentions the meetings on the dates prior to the launch of Tsunami in which the former president was present.
The court assures that it has no doubt that the facts constitute a crime of terrorism and takes the opportunity to send a message: “The statement that emerges in some politicians and the media that only the actions of ETA or the Jihad deserve to be treated as terrorism It is incompatible with the definition of terrorism derived from the current art. 573 of the Penal Code.” The magistrates rely on a dozen street terrorism sentences: ETA, kale borroka...
They resort to the term “low-intensity terrorism” to encompass a string of crimes that were allegedly committed during the riots in October 2019: illegal detention or coercion during the blockade of the entrance and exit of the El Prat airport, –reports the order – massive and continuous falsifications of plane tickets to access the facilities, injuries and attacks against authority caused with dangerous instruments such as paving stones or iron bars and, finally, the order continues, serious crimes of property damage continued on the streets of Barcelona.
The chamber chaired by Judge Manuel Marchena does not finish the order without expressing its absolute disagreement with the lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court who rejected the accusation of terrorism against Puigdemont, considering that García-Castellón was based on “mere conjectures or suspicions.” The magistrates take the gauntlet of the board of court prosecutors who did agree – by 12 votes to three – to investigate Tsunami as terrorism. For the courtroom, the lieutenant prosecutor made in her writing “a subjective interpretation” of the evidence, in isolation. “The probative force of the circumstantial evidence comes precisely from the interrelation and combination of the same, which concur and reinforce each other respectively, when all of them rationally point in the same direction”: investigating Carles Puigdemont for terrorism.
The news fell like a bomb in Congress, where, once the plenary session ended, the groups between deputies and journalists had already turned towards the processing of the Amnesty law that will return to the chamber next week with many doses of optimism among the parties involved in confirming the progress that, far from the noise that accompanied the failed attempt in January, is being produced in recent days to try to crystallize before the deadline set for March 7.
The Supreme Court's decision, however, disrupted the informal conversations in the courtyard of the Lower House at the same speed with which the socialist deputies still present began to head towards the exit door to disappear from the scene.
Ferraz had given the order to remain silent, and the socialists complied with it to the letter, as demonstrated by the fact that there was not a single public assessment throughout yesterday afternoon, so the party's feelings had to be expressed in private. And that is where the very few messages revealed a significant discomfort with the decision and, above all, with the times managed with the Supreme Court.
“This is no longer a coincidence, it is something else,” a socialist leader timidly noted when abandoning the San Jerónimo race. A first reaction captured by La Vanguardia was followed by even more eloquent ones collected by Cadena Ser among some members of the PSOE federal executive: “What is the name of this thing they do?” or “the Supreme Court could set up a party or sit directly on the right-wing bench.”
The one who did appear publicly was Cuca Gamarra. The general secretary of the PP pointed out that the Supreme Court's agreement to investigate Puigdemont shows that "the rule of law in our country cannot be bought by Pedro Sánchez and is much stronger than the Government."
After this decision, Gamarra once again reproached the President of the Government for attempting to grant amnesty to those who "are corrupt and are accused of terrorism in exchange for remaining in power."
“The Amnesty law is an absolute exercise in political corruption,” added the Riojan leader to warn its promoters that “the rule of law works and they will not be able to stop it, because it is stronger than Pedro Sánchez.”
