The investigation into Democratic Tsunami heats up the political cauldron

The investigation into Tsunami Democràtic will stir up political waters in 2024. The new steps taken in the summary opened in the National Court on this platform — which incited protests in 2019 against the Supreme Court ruling that condemned the leaders of the process— will have repercussions on the public debate, already very agitated due to the accelerated processing of the amnesty law undertaken in the Cortes. The case has experienced a certain slowdown as it became entangled with the numerous movements, resources and writings promoted by those involved after the order of November 6 by Judge Manuel García-Castellón, which shook the investigations with the summons as defendants for terrorism crimes, among others. , of the former president Carles Puidemont and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira. But that tangle will begin to unravel in the coming weeks and months, and its effects are unpredictable.

The parties know that there will be no decision that affects the Tsunami case that cannot be taken advantage of for or against their respective interests. It has already happened in December as details of the questioned Civil Guard investigation, which remained secret from 2019 to 2023, have emerged. Just 10 days ago, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, against whom the right has repeatedly charged for This cause, as a result of its pacts with Junts and ERC, disassociated the platform from terrorism: “In this country, unfortunately, we have suffered two types of terrorism: we have suffered ETA's terrorism, we have suffered jihadist terrorism. And I don't think they are comparable. [con Tsunami]“he said in an interview on Rac 1.

Everyone is now waiting for the highest judicial authorities in the country to rule on the procedure and, therefore, on the future of the two notable pro-independence leaders, Puigdemont and Rovira, both fugitives from justice and foreseeable beneficiaries of the agreed amnesty law. between the PSOE and Junts. These are the main fronts that remain open:

The appeal of the Prosecutor's Office. The Criminal Chamber of the National Court has to resolve the different appeals processed against the order of November 6 of Judge García-Castellón, responsible for the Central Court of Instruction 6. In addition to the briefs presented by several defendants, the court must respond to the harsh allegations of prosecutor Miguel Ángel Carballo, who rules out the existence of terrorism and, once sedition was repealed, only considers crimes of public disorder. This implies that, if his thesis prevails, the National Court would lose jurisdiction and the case would be referred to the courts of Catalonia. The public ministry also does not consider that the summary allows “to support the existence of a criminal organization”, nor that there is “sufficient” evidence to maintain the accusation of Puigdemont and Rovira.

This appeal by the prosecutor soured relations with the magistrate. Carballo even accused the García-Castellón court of delaying the processing of his letter to the Criminal Chamber, which was finally submitted to the court in mid-December.

The Supreme. Two weeks after citing Puigdemont and Rovira as defendants, the investigating magistrate changed his strategy and opted to send his investigation to the Supreme Court, so that it would take up the case. Without waiting for the Criminal Court to rule and with the opposition of the Prosecutor's Office, which has appealed his decision, García-Castellón considered that the investigations required carrying out a series of “diligences” against the former presidentbut these could only be executed by this high court, since the former president (who is an MEP) and another under investigation (Ruben Wagensberg, member of the Parliament) are under arrest.

Until now, the Supreme Court has not ruled on the Tsunami case and by doing so, whether to keep the case or to reject it, it would delimit key aspects of the investigation.

Request for protection. The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) keeps open the file initiated after García-Castellón requested protection due to the criticism made in November by the then Secretary of State for Justice, Tontxu Rodríguez, and the spokesperson for the Generalitat of Catalonia, Patricia Plaja, who accused the magistrate of wanting to “influence” the negotiation between the PSOE and Junts by citing Puigdemont and Rovira as defendants. After admitting the judge's request for processing, the CGPJ agreed to suspend its decision until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case, because if this court retains the case “the requested protection would be without purpose.”

At the same time, as reported by Europa Press, the National Court has not yet resolved all the challenges raised by the defendants against García-Castellón, whom they want to remove from the case for a few words about the amnesty that he said last October at a public event: “ I, only as a citizen, can say two things. One: slavery is not prohibited in the Constitution either, and yet it is not possible (and is not expressly prohibited). And two: these gentlemen have said that, as soon as they can, they are going to repeat it again; Therefore, will this amnesty be the first of many others later? ”He asserted.

More tests. While waiting for the Supreme Court and the Criminal Chamber of the National Court to express their opinion, the case will continue to incorporate the new evidence that the investigating judge requested from the Civil Guard after citing Puigdemont and Rovira as defendants. Among them, all the information that he claimed from various institutions – such as Enaire, Spain's air navigation manager; to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA); and the Emergency Medical Service (SEM)—about the blockade of the El Prat airport (Barcelona), an action perpetrated by Tsunami in October 2019 and during which a French tourist died after suffering a heart attack.

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