We must accept that Manuel García-Castellón, Spanish National Court judge, is bringing on endless legal procedures, trying to torpedo the amnesty law from his office however he can. He always comes up with a new move to avoid being trapped by legislators, and what we see these days with the Tsunami Democràtic case is a good example. His latest double move, stating he began investigating Catalan president in exile Carles Puigdemont in the middle of Junts' negotiations with the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, six days after the meeting in Geneva between the socialist Santos Cerdán and the Catalan president in exile was made public, and his approval for two police agents, injured in the October 2019 Urquinaona protests, to present charges against protestors, make clear that it will be very difficult for him to cease in his efforts.
The Spanish National Audience court prosecutor's office disavowed him, and it is unknown whether the Spanish Supreme Court will follow suit. But things never happen by chance, and the timing is more important than it seems. We are talking about events which took place over four years ago, in the autumn of 2023. Four years investigating a case which did not need as much time, and in which Catalan president in exile Puigdemont did not appear in any of the proceedings carried out, nor in the European orders, nor in the letters rogatory. Apparent supervening events, police officers who were recently notified of their mistake of not appearing... Everything is strange and suspicious to keep the case alive and the alleged links —like that of Marta Rovira— with events which he wishes to classify as terrorism at all costs, in varying degrees of severity.
If García-Castellón's attitude is provocative, the silence surrounding it is also striking
But if García-Castellón's attitude, which has no legal basis, is provocative, the silence surrounding it is also striking. Nothing should be expected from the General Council of the Judiciary, nor from the judicial associations. Nor from the media, the written press in Madrid, or the vast majority of radio and television stations. But such silence in the face of such an outrage is unheard of. An attempt was made by Teresa Ribera, vice-president for Ecological Transition, who accused García-Castellón of lawfare for maintaining the accusation of terrorism against Puigdemont, and lashed out at the judiciary. No one from the Spanish executive has followed suit, an executive which is never comfortable with this issue, no matter how much evidence there is, and shies away from public confrontation as much as possible.
It is already known —at least since 2012— that there are double standards. One must only read a news item from this very month of January, which informed that the Public Prosecutor's Office had opened proceedings for the beating of a Pedro Sánchez dummy in front of the PSOE HQ in Madrid. The Public Prosecutor's Office will investigate the facts, and we will see what their conclusions are and whether they end up declaring it a crime. I hope that, with the same speed, we will hear from the Public Prosecutor's Office about what happened in Jaén, where a dummy, named 'Pelelemón', ["Pelele" is the Spanish word for "wimp"] was set on fire. The dummy in question bore the slogan "I want to be pardoned", was wearing a suit and tie, a wig, and carried a suitcase full of money. Among the declarations of the council of Jaén, they state the dummy in question is "Mr Pelelemón, who wants to be pardoned and be spared from the bonfire flames, but neither his money nor his status will prevent him from burning in the San Antón fires, just like the rest of the dummies".
I'm not quite sure what they are proud of, other than being a bunch of lunatics.