The judge of the National Court, José Manuel García Castellón, has released the ERC leader, Marta Molina, the only one investigated for terrorism in the Tsunami case that appeared in court this Wednesday. She did so at the Ciutat de la Justicia where she had to give a statement by videoconference. After just five minutes in which he alone answered the questions of his lawyer, Marina Roig, the judge concluded the interrogation and let the person under investigation leave. “We conclude the event. You can go now,” she told him.
The magistrate has not given voice to the accusations to ask if any precautionary measure should be issued – such as provisional detention or the withdrawal of the passport – to ensure the subjection of the investigated person to the judicial process after the rest of the accused have left. to Switzerland. There was fear among the independence movement that the judge would send Molina to prison just a week before Congress approved the amnesty law. In fact, the lawyer for several of those investigated in the Tsunami case, Andreu Van Eynde, warned before entering the court in an interview on Catalunya Ràdio that it was “totally unpredictable” to know if Molina would end up going to prison. The leader of ERC has said in response to questions from its lawyer that it never made any call for violence during the Tsunami protests, that it learned of the platform’s statements through the media and that they were never violent and has taken the opportunity to highlight that the independence movement It is a peaceful movement. According to reports from the Civil Guard, Molina coordinated some of the actions of Tsunami Democràtic under the nickname ‘Mandela’.
Along with Molina, the former secretary of ERC, Xavier Vendrell, – who is in Colombia – the leader of Òmnium, Oleguer Serra, the journalist Jesús Rodríguez and the businessman Josep Campmajó who went to Switzerland were summoned. Computer scientist Jaume Cabaní, whose whereabouts are unknown, was also summoned. The judge agreed to postpone the statements of the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira and the businessman Oriol Soler because their lawyers had another trial on the same day and that of Josep Lluís Alay, director of the Puigdemont Office, due to medical prescription.
García Castellón’s summons occurs when there are eight days left for Congress to approve the amnesty law, which will cause the immediate filing of all cases being investigated related to the independence process. However, the rule provides for some exceptions such as cases of terrorism that could be excluded. These are acts classified as terrorism by the 2017 European directive, which describes them as those that “have intentionally caused serious violations of human rights regulated in articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” which refer to the right to life and the prohibition of torture. Once the amnesty is approved, the defenses of those investigated in the Tsunami case will request the immediate file. It will then be when the judge will transfer the accusations to rule on whether the new legislation should be applied before making a decision.
The independence movement has exhibited unity to support Marta Molina, the secretary of social movements of ERC. Leaders of all the pro-independence parties, the Commons and Òmnium cultural have gathered at the doors of the City of Justice to denounce that they are suffering judicial persecution. On behalf of ERC, the acting president, Pere Aragonès, the party president, Oriol Junqueras, the organization secretary, Marta Vilalta, the councilor Meritxell Serret and the MEP, Diana Riba, among others, attended. “We are not facing an exercise of justice but of revenge,” denounced Junqueras, who has multiplied his public presence after he announced that he wants to endorse his leadership in the party. Laura Borràs, from Junts, has expressed herself along the same lines, criticizing “the persecution” of Judge García Castellón a week after the approval of the amnesty law. “It is one more provocation from the judicial leadership,” reproached Jaume Asens, of the Commons. The CUP candidate, Laia Estrada, has accused García Castellón of being “a far-right hooligan in a toga who violates fundamental rights.”
