Judge rejects appeal against sending Tsunami Democràtic case to Supreme Court

A judge in Spain's National Court has rejected the public prosecutor's appeal against his decision to send the Tsunami Democràtic case to the Supreme Court. 

Manuel García-Castellón is investigating former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, Esquerra Republicana (ERC) general secretary Marta Rovira, and ten other people for terrorism over their links to the protest group. 

The judge said that "the initial thesis" that classified the events in question as constituting the crime of terrorism had been confirmed, and he criticized the actions of the public prosecution in lodging an appeal. 

In another resolution, García-Castellón also rejected Marta Rovira's appeal against his decision to send a letter of request to Switzerland to ask authorities there to provide information on Rovira's whereabouts. 

Investigation  

In November, Spain's National Court announced it was including Puigdemont in its investigations into Tsunami Democràtic, a protest group that hit the headlines in the wake of the Spanish Supreme Court's sentencing of Catalan independence leaders in 2019. 

A few days earlier, it had been confirmed that a Spanish Guardia Civil police report cited Marta Rovira as the coordinator of the anonymous group. 

Rovira, General Secretary of pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana (ERC), has, like Puigdemont, been living in exile since the peak of the independence crisis in 2017; Rovira in Switzerland and Puigdemont in Belgium. 

The court – after analyzing a mobile phone belonging to Josep Lluís Alay, one of Puigdemont's chief advisors – argues that the former president participated in meetings in Geneva in August 2019, where Tsunami Democràtic protests may have been planned. 

Operating through instant messaging application Telegram, Tsunami Democràtic organized protests such as the blockade of the AP-7 highway near France and the attempt to shut down Barcelona Airport. 

The Public Prosecutor's Office announced it would appeal the National Court resolution as it did not see evidence of terrorism.