The judge rules out terrorism in the attack by the extreme right on the headquarters of Podemos in Cartagena

María del Mar Gómez, head of the Court of Instruction 3 of Cartagena, has refused to send the investigation opened by the extreme right to the headquarters of Podemos and Izquierda Unida to the National Court. According to a resolution dated January 17, to which EL PAÍS has had access, the magistrate rules out the crime of terrorism by attributing the incidents to a single individual: “There is no record of the existence of a criminal group or organization, and nor that the different events have a terrorist ideology, ”he emphasizes in his writing. The training led by Ione Belarra has already filed an appeal with the Provincial Court of Murcia.

On November 6, Podemos asked the instructor to refer the case to the National Court. These investigations were opened as a result of the attack with a Molotov cocktail against the party’s headquarters in Cartagena, perpetrated last April, for which Francisco Soria, a twenty-year-old whom the Police links with fascist groups, remains charged. The investigation, which included the analysis of the suspect’s mobile phone, revealed that he was also allegedly behind the damage “with graffiti and stones” caused to the IU premises in San Andrés de Rabanedo (León) and that he participated in the disturbances that occurred. on November 1 in Murcia, when groups of young people destroyed street furniture in protests against the curfew.

In the opinion of the left-wing formation, the instruction has shown that the violent action against the Cartagena headquarters is part of a broader campaign by the extreme right to destabilize the institutions, and that it has revealed the existence of an authentic “criminal organization” , which “acts in several autonomous communities”, which “has the purpose of subverting the Rule of Law and current laws” and which has a “dangerous potential for action”. “The attacks have a clear intention: to destabilize the functioning of the political institutions of the State and seriously alter public peace. In this case, by means of the method of threatening a part of the coalition government”, Podemos explained in his letter.

However, the judge has ruled out this hypothesis, considering that the facts under suspicion “could be attributed to Francisco Soria in an isolated manner.” According to the magistrate, to assess the crime of terrorism, the legislation requires the existence of an “armed gang that requires a plurality of people”, in addition to a “complex structure” with “links” and “certain hierarchy”. In turn, adds the instructor, belonging to a terrorist organization requires a “permanence” and not an “episodic” participation. A battery of elements that do not occur in this case, depending on its resolution.

But the Podemos appeal sent to the Provincial Court, dated January 25, contradicts this thesis and insists on sending the case to the National Court. The letter emphasizes that police reports have linked Soria with Bastión Frontal, a fascist group that the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office has denounced for harassing young migrants. According to the party, the defendant maintains a “stable” relationship with that organization, which aims to “subvert the constitutional order, or seriously destabilize or suppress the functioning of the institutions.”