Barcelona Court shelves probe into pro-independence leaders' alleged Russian ties

Barcelona Court has closed the investigation into the alleged Russian plot tied to the pro-independence process by annulling the decision made by Judge Joaquín Aguirre from Court of Instruction No. 1 in Barcelona to open a new part of the case.

This decision had allowed the case against pro-independence leaders, including former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, to be sent to the Supreme Court.

Barcelona Court judges argued that Aguirre used a "procedural trick" to bypass the court's previous order, which had canceled the extension for continuing the investigation into the 'Volhov case.'

This case also involved investigating potential contacts between alleged Kremlin agents and Puigdemont and his associates.

The resolution has been forwarded to the Supreme Court for review.

Loophole

The court had already forced Aguirre to close the investigation in May because the instruction period had not been properly extended in August 2023, but the judge attempted to exploit a loophole in June by opening a new procedure under the 'Catmon-Igman' piece for charges of embezzlement and high treason, investigating 13 people, including former Catalan presidents Artur Mas and Puigdemont.

According to the ruling, other high-ranking officials of the Catalan government were also under investigation, such as Elsa Artadi; the former international relations head of Artus Mas' party, Víctor Terradellas; Junts MP Francesc Dalmases; Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye; a Russian businessman based in Barcelona, Alexander Dmitrenko, who was denied Spanish nationality due to alleged ties to Russian intelligence services; Puigdemont's advisor Josep Lluís Alay; two business people and two journalists, Carles Porta and Natàlia Boronat.

A controversial judge

In July, Diario RED published leaked audio recordings of Judge Aguirre bragging about being the judge who stopped the amnesty law from being approved.

The next day, Puigdemont filed a complaint against Aguirre in Catalonia's High Court, accusing him of prevarication and embezzlement.