Spanish judges strongly divided over putting Puigdemont on trial for terrorism

There is currently no solid evidence to bring former Catalan president and separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to trial for terrorist crimes allegedly committed during the height of the separatist movement in Catalonia, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Spain’s Supreme Court, María Ángeles Sánchez, said on Thursday, contradicting the opinion of Spain’s main advisory body of judges.

According to Ángeles Sánchez, there is currently no evidence or clear indications directly linking Puigdemont, who has been in self-exile in Belgium since the secessionist attempt in Catalonia in 2017, to the events of October 2019 involving separatist movement Democratic Tsunami in protest against the jailing of the separatist leaders involved in the events of 2017, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

Her response comes after National Court Judge Manuel García Castellón opened a probe over alleged terrorist offences committed by Puigdemont, leader of the separatist right-wing party JxCat. The case could also implicate radical left-wing activist and member of the Catalan regional parliament Rubén Wagensberg, among other members of the pro-independence movement in that region.

However, Ángeles Sánchez views the investigation as based on mere “conjecture” and requested the Supreme Court to close it.

To add further tension to the “Tsunami case”, experts at the National Court are currently analysing a possible procedural error in García Castellón’s investigation, which, if confirmed, could annul the case, El País reported on Thursday.

With her decision on Thursday, Ángeles Sánchez, the “number two” in the Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office, has officially taken the position of the Spanish Public Ministry.

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Her vision of the case clashes directly with the majority opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office, which considers the former Catalan president to be the “leader of the democratic tsunami” and speaks of this movement as “an organised group of a terrorist nature”.

The official will soon communicate her decision to a group of Supreme Court judges, who will have to decide whether to finally investigate Puigdemont for terrorism, as requested by García-Castellón, or whether to return the case to the judiciary.

On Wednesday, Puigdemont accused García-Castellón of being a “self-confessed liar” and of being an “official of the Partido Popular“.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)