The lieutenant prosecutor of the Supreme Court believes that there is no basis to investigate the former president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, for terrorism, considering that Judge Manuel García Castellón is based on “mere conjectures” to hold him responsible for the coordination or leadership of the platform. Tsunami Democràtic, who led the riots in protest of the procés ruling in October 2019.
The number two of the Attorney General’s Office thus refuses to follow the majority criteria of the Board of Prosecutors, who did consider that there were indications to investigate the leader of Junts for terrorism.
This report will be sent to the Supreme Court, which has yet to give a response to García-Castellón on the reasoned statement to investigate Puigdemont.
The lieutenant prosecutor explains that the matter regarding Puigdemont and deputy Rubén Wagensberg should be taken up by the Supreme Court as they are both certified, but that the case regarding them should be archived due to lack of evidence.
In her report, the lieutenant prosecutor analyzes the evidence collected by the instructor regarding Puigdemont and concludes that “there are no indications that allow us to affirm that Puigdemont participated in the founding or planning of the actions of Tsunami Democràtic.”
In his opinion, the investigating magistrate is limited to making “conjectures lacking a factual basis.” Sánchez Conde maintains that “in reality we are faced with mere conjectures or suspicions that do not allow the attribution of any criminal act to Carles Puigdemont, not even with the provisional nature of the present procedural moment.”
“None of the facts that are indicated as evidence, neither examined in their concrete significance, nor – as should be – taken in their entirety, allow us to reasonably infer the participation of the accused accused in the Tsunami Democràtic platform, seeming, rather, On the contrary, they rule out said intervention,” he concludes.
The report sent to the Criminal Chamber of the high court, chaired by Manuel Marchena, dismantles the five pieces of evidence on which the judge bases his investigation of the former Catalan president. A screenshot of a message from one of Puigdemont’s trusted men, Josep Lluis Alay, in which the launch date of TD was discussed, for the prosecutor, far from proving that the independence leader was an organizer or leader of the platform, in fact it makes it clear that he was oblivious to it.
“It is worth asking whether consulting with a third party on an issue such as the launch date of Tsunami Democràtic could mean attributing the constitution, leadership or promotion of this platform to Carles Puigdemont,” says the lieutenant prosecutor.
In the prosecutor’s opinion, contrary to what the National Court judge maintains, it was the TD leaders who sought public support from Puigdemont and other political leaders on social networks.
That is why he maintains that this message between Alay and the former president “seems to show that Carles Puigdemont did not belong to the Tsunami Democràtic coordination group, since, if he were part of it, no information would have to be transmitted to him, and it is unknown if said information was provided to him.”
For the judge, it was key that the former president was present at the meetings held in Geneva (Switzerland) on August 30 and 31, 2019 regarding the formation of TD. The prosecutor does not have the same criteria. In his opinion, a multitude of people belonging to pro-independence parties or social movements participated in those meetings, “without the investigating magistrate inferring the involvement of all of them in Tsunami Democràtic, despite the fact that many are identified”, such as his successor Quim Torra, the leader of the CUP Anna Gabriel, or members of ERC, Bildu or Òmnium Cultural.
“It is notorious that Tsunami Democràtic was publicly supported by a multitude of people, possibly unaware of the phenomena that would occur later due to the actions of uncontrolled individuals,” he adds.
Sánchez Conde also rejects that the fact that Puigdemont publicly supported the platform through social networks can be considered indications of participation in TD.
And regarding a conversation between Carles Puigdemont and the businessman Josep Campmajó about the impact of TD and the effects it could have, the prosecutor sees it from a totally different perspective than that of the judge. For the representative of the public ministry, that conversation made it clear that if the platform’s actions got out of control with serious injuries or deaths, they would lose and it would be prejudicial to their extradition.
“It is surprising, therefore, that someone who expresses fear of the riots that occurred in Catalonia in October 2019 and speaks out against a possible death can be criminally attributed to it,” he concludes.
