The Swiss Federal Office of Justice has suspended the processing of the request of the judge of the National Court, Manuel García-Castellón, who in a rogatory commission sent on November 21 requested information on the whereabouts of the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, and the movements of a bank account from which the Tsunami Democràtic platform that led the protests over the procés ruling in October 2019 could supposedly be financed.
Furthermore, in the response from the Swiss office to the Spanish magistrate, dated December 22 in Berne and reported by the newspaper El País and to which La Vanguardia has had access, the terrorism investigation of the Republican leader is questioned and the if it has “a political character.”
Likewise, the Swiss justice system asks García-Castellón to inform it about the possible consequences of the Amnesty law that is being processed in Spain “on the procedures initiated against the members of the Tsunami Democràtic platform, as well as against Marta Rovira”, whose belonging to said platform, he assures, “is not clear.”
The Swiss organization also remembers that the content of the judge’s request “is very similar” to that of the rogatory commission of December 3, 2019 issued by the same court (Central de Instrucción 6 de Madrid), which in March 2020 was already denied on the grounds that his country’s legislation considers requests for assistance at events with a “preponderant political nature” inadmissible.
Before processing the request, the agency asks the judge of the National Court for a series of additional information “before verifying whether it has a political nature that would prevent us from granting assistance under Swiss legislation on mutual assistance in criminal matters.” .
In this sense, the Swiss judges say they do not understand why Rovira’s whereabouts are requested “through judicial assistance, when this measure can be carried out through the simplified police cooperation procedure” and they also do not understand “what purpose is pursued with this location.” .
The Spanish judge, shortly after the investiture of Pedro Sánchez with the votes of Junts and ERC in exchange for the amnesty, sent a reasoned statement to the Supreme Court so that it would take up the case and almost in parallel he submitted the aforementioned rogatory commission to justice Switzerland, in which, in addition to requesting the location of Rovira, it demanded the movements of a CIM Banque Privée account from its creation until June 2020 and transfers received and issued, as well as data relating to financial movements “any let it be its nature.”
In this regard, the Swiss office responds by asking Judge García-Castellón why the movements in the account until June 2020 are requested if “the events organized at the respective airports of Barcelona and Madrid that supposedly should have received financial support through the mentioned account had taken place on October 14, 2019”. He refers to the invasion of the El Prat airport and the attempted blockade of the Madrid-Barajas airport led at that time by Tsunami Democràtic.
Another issue that the Swiss judges demand of the judge of the National Court is that, in order to guarantee the “proportionality” of the request for information, he clarify “the exact relationship” between Rovira and “the demonstrations at the two airports mentioned that constitute the events described in the rogatory commission”.
And after demanding clarification about the effects of the Amnesty law on the defendants, which they claim to have learned about through the press, the Swiss judges conclude the letter by announcing that they are suspending the processing of the mutual assistance request “pending of the answers to our questions.
In 2020, the Swiss authorities already pointed out to reject the first request that the requirements to collaborate in cases of political crimes were not met, which their legislation only allows if they are “especially reprehensible” acts, such as coercion or extortion that puts at risk. endanger the lives of people by hijacking a plane, using means of mass extermination or provoking a catastrophe or taking hostages.
In its 2020 letter, Switzerland also warned that, even if the political nature of the acts in question were denied, they could only collaborate with Spanish justice if the facts exposed corresponded to infractions punishable by Swiss law. And in the case of Tsunami, the response to the rogatory commission added, “the manifestations of civil disobedience against the Spanish central power” did not fit with its definition of either a criminal organization or terrorism.
García-Castellón has emerged in recent months, together with his Barcelona colleague Joaquín Aguirre, as the bulwark against the amnesty by reactivating the Tsunami and CDR cases, both for terrorism, the first, and the Voloh case, pointing to betrayal, the second. Two crimes, terrorism and treason, explicitly excluded from the current text being negotiated in the Congressional Justice Commission after Junts refused to approve it in the plenary session of the House precisely because of these exclusions that could leave almost fifty out of criminal oblivion. of independentists.
The actions of the judge of the National Court have even earned him recrimination in recent weeks from some members of the Government such as the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, who accused him of having “a certain fondness for “always pronounce in the same direction and at a particularly opportune moment” calling into question its impartiality. In fact, this pronouncement and others, particularly from the pro-independence groups, provoked a reaction from the General Council of the Judiciary that came out unanimously to defend to the Tsunami Democràtic instructor.
