The open crisis in the Prosecutor’s Office due to the case against Carles Puigdemont for terrorism had its culmination yesterday with the final report that requests that the investigation be definitively shelved, which would leave the way free for the former president of the Generalitat to be amnestied once it is approved. the law, currently being processed by parliament.
The lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court and number two of the attorney general of the State has established the final criteria of the public ministry regarding the role of the leader of Junts in the Tsunami Democràtic (TD) platform, responsible for the riots in Catalonia after the sentencing of the process in October 2019. María de los Ángeles Sánchez Conde, contrary to most of her colleagues, has concluded that the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón is based on “mere conjectures” to intend to initiate a formal investigation against Puigdemont.
The prosecutor believes that there is not a single indication that certifies that the former president had anything to do with the organization, promotion and even less leadership of TD. In her letter, the number two of the Attorney General’s Office has avoided assessing whether the actions of Tsunami, such as the riots at El Prat airport, can be classified as terrorism, regardless of Puigdemont’s involvement.
Sánchez Conde believes that the High Court should assume jurisdiction since Puigdemont is incapacitated due to his status as a MEP, and then agree to file it as there is no evidence to justify the start of an investigation. Now it is the Criminal Chamber of the High Court, chaired by Manuel Marchena, that has the last word.
Several options are open to the court. Either pay attention to the fiscal criteria, or accept the reasoned presentation of the instructor of the National Court or a third option which is to return the case to García-Castellón so that he can continue collecting evidence before a new referral to the Supreme Court.
This matter has generated an institutional crisis. The public ministry, led by Álvaro García, has taken several lurches. The Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court argued that there was no terrorism in the TD case but rather public disorder and, therefore, it should be investigated in the ordinary courts of Barcelona. Furthermore, he saw no evidence against Puigdemont. His criteria had to be reviewed by a Supreme Court prosecutor, in charge of issuing a report on jurisdiction after García-Castellón’s decision to send it to the High Court.
This prosecutor, Álvaro Redondo, endorsed his partner’s criteria. However, his report went to the Supreme Court’s Board of Prosecutors for study. A large majority overturned their opinion and agreed that there was clearly a crime of terrorism in the events linked to TD, with sufficient indications about Puigdemont’s leadership in the creation and launch of this platform to destabilize the State and attack social peace.
In this achievement of facts, there was one last report to establish the definitive criterion. The Prosecutor’s Office has already warned that Sánchez Conde, as the top prosecutor of the Supreme Court, did not have to follow the line of the Board, as has been the case.
In this latest report, the lieutenant prosecutor maintains that García-Castellón limits himself to raising hypotheses “lacking a factual basis.” Sánchez Conde states that “in reality we are faced with mere conjectures or suspicions that do not allow the attribution of any criminal act to Puigdemont, not even with the provisional nature of the present procedural moment.”
These are the contradictory points between the two opposing versions:
From Josep Lluis Alay’s conversation about Tsunami Democràtic’s action plans, the deputy prosecutor believes that the fact that information was intended to be sent to Carles Puigdemont is a “relevant indicator” of his alienation.
Based on this same chain of messages, the Board of Prosecutors interprets that the former Catalan president was informed from the beginning of the “constitution of the organized group animated for the purposes of subversion of the constitutional order.”
Sánchez Conde’s report sent to the Supreme Court states that Puigdemont’s presence at the Geneva meetings in August 2019 to create TD “sheds little light” on his integration into the platform. Many identified people who the judge has not investigated participated.
The Board believes that the former president’s attendance shows his range of leadership. There, a media campaign was planned in favor of TD, “supported by the independence movement and with the support of the Government.”
The messages of support for TD by Puigdemont through social networks cannot be – according to the criteria of the deputy prosecutor – an indication of integration since there was also support from other political figures, such as the leader of ERC Oriol Junqueras or Puigdemont’s successor as president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra.
The Junta’s prosecutors appreciate that both Puigdemont and other pro-independence leaders gave TD notoriety to “convey” the mobilizations against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the process.
The conversation between Puigdemont and the businessman Campmajó would demonstrate to the lieutenant prosecutor that the former president understood that the lack of control in the streets harmed him in his criminal case.
The Junta interprets that Puigdemont, as leader of TD, was committed to continuing with the mobilizations as long as there were no deaths on either side.