The judge of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court Carolina Rius has agreed to the definitive file of the recusal incident against the investigating judge of the Democratic Tsunami case, Manuel García Castellón, presented by the investigator Josep Lluis Alay.
In a ruling, the magistrate indicates that the recusal is inadmissible and is definitively filed as the formal defect seen in the defense briefs has not been corrected, as established by the Organic Law of the Judiciary.
This means that it has not even begun to assess the relevance or not of the magistrate remaining investigating the case for which the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont is being investigated – although not formally as he is seated before the Supreme Court.
The head of the Central Court of Instruction number 6 of the National Court is one of the judges most targeted by the independence movement since a campaign began against certain members of the judicial career identified by the independence movement as participating in ‘lawfare’, an alleged judicial persecution against politicians for their ideology.
The acting president of the Criminal Chamber of the National Court, Alfonso Guevara, has already archived the government file against García-Castellón after he decided to flatly reject the challenge raised by one of those investigated in the Democratic Tsunami case.
Since García-Castellón has expanded the investigation to the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont and the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, in the midst of negotiations to draft an amnesty law in exchange for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, tension has been increasing .
One of those investigated had requested that he withdraw from the case, while the magistrate has had to request protection from the General Council of the Judiciary due to the criticism leveled at him by members of the acting Government.
García-Castellón still has the case of Democratic Tsunami (TD) in his Court, investigated as a movement that was behind the boycotts and altercations provoked in Catalonia following the ruling of the process in October 2019.
The judge has asked the Supreme Court to take over the investigation once Puigdemont, considered by him to be one of the main axes of TD, is certified as a member of the European Parliament.
On the other hand, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court also has to rule on the appeals filed by the Prosecutor’s Office, against this presentation motivated to elevate the matter to the high court, and against the resolution of the instructor to initiate an investigation into Puigdemont. for a possible crime of terrorism.
