The Swiss authorities suspend any collaboration with the magistrate until he determines whether the case he is investigating is affected by the amnesty.
Switzerland’s blow to Judge García Castellón. The Swiss authorities have rejected the request for collaboration that the Tsunam i magistrate sent last November to locate the general secretary of ERC, Marta Rovira, considering that “the participation of the independence leader in the platform is not clear.” and by verifying that the case may be affected by the amnesty law.
The response of the Swiss authorities, reported by El País and to which elDiario.es has had access, represents a setback to the investigation carried out until now by the magistrate on the ERC leader. The judge asked Switzerland to locate Rovira based on two elements: a retweet that Rovira made to a message from Tsunami Democràtic and the messages in an application, which led the judge to “suspect” that the ERC policy “could be” in a meeting in Geneva – the city where he resides – in which Tsunami actions were planned.
The Federal Office of Justice warns that it has yet to analyze whether the Tsunami judge’s request has a “political nature”, as Switzerland already concluded after García Castellón’s first request for collaboration in 2019.But even before this step, the Swiss authorities claim to “not understand” several of the magistrate’s requests, which leads them to suspend any collaboration until García Castellón responds to their doubts.
The Swiss authorities do not understand why García Castellón asked them to locate Rovira through a rogatory commission when their objective can be achieved “through the simplified police cooperation procedure.”
Regarding Marta Rovira, Switzerland wants the judge to specify “the exact relationship” between the ERC leader and the protest in El Prat that followed the sentencing of the process in 2019, which according to the magistrate was planned by the former deputy and other pro-independence leaders . But the Swiss authorities need more information before they can decide whether to locate Rovira and therefore ask the magistrate for “additional information.”
Among the data that is claimed, the Swiss authorities ask García Castellón for the “possible consequences” of the amnesty law on the cause of Tsunami Democràtic and on Marta Rovira, who highlights that “her membership in said platform is not clear.”
Switzerland already refused to collaborate in 2020
Judge García Castellón already tried at the beginning of the case, in 2019, to get Switzerland to collaborate with the investigation into the Democratic Tsunami. However, the Swiss authorities declined in 2020 the magistrate’s request to find out the leaders behind the platform because, in his opinion, the instructor’s investigations dealt with “a political crime” that impeded international cooperation. The judge did not obtain the desired result to discover who was behind the Tsunami from the several international letters rogatory he issued to countries such as Switzerland, Canada or the US.
More than three years later, with the case stranded and with little progress, the judge reactivated the investigation amid amnesty negotiations and once again requested information from Switzerland. The Swiss authorities highlight that the content of both letters rogatory “is very similar”, and remind you that the first request for collaboration has already been denied, which is the prelude to a second rejection if the judge does not respond to the doubts raised about Marta Rovira.
The judge accumulates setbacks
The setback that Switzerland once again deals to Judge García Castellón adds to those that the magistrate had already received since he reactivated the investigation of the Tsunami case coinciding with the amnesty law and insisted on investigating Rovira, Carles Puigdemont and ten other independence supporters for terrorism.
The magistrate linked Tsunami to terrorism based on four axes: the death of a French citizen due to a heart attack during the attempted blockade of access to El Prat; the impact of the Tsunami protest on airport operations; the serious injuries to police officers that occurred during the altercations against the procés ruling in 2019, even though they occurred in concentrations that were not called by Tsunami; and even the concerts held in the street during the day of reflection for the November 2019 general elections.