The lawyer Gonzalo Boye has been released without any kind of bail conditions by National Audience judge María Tardón after a twenty-minute hearing. The public prosecution service, despite all the commotion that happened on Monday, only asked for him to be required to present himself at the court on the 1st and 15th of every month, which the judge didn't accept. Although the lifespan of news stories is ever shorter, it's worth remembering what the accusations were (just 48 hours ago), the reason why police searched his house and office for thirteen hours on Monday: money laundering linked to drug trafficking. A serious accusation which, in light of the judge's decision, is of little substance but which, on the other hand, has achieved the desired effect: to clone Boye's phone, to get access to his email and to undermine his reputation as a lawyer.
For those who don't know, Boye is the lawyer of president Carles Puigdemont and of various of the Catalan government exiles resident abroad and of some other political prisoners, also out of Spain. A detail without which we can't understand the enormous police operation which gives off, whichever way you look at it, a strong stench of the sewers. Someone seems to have thought about it and decided that this way was as good as any to take out for the lowest cost possible both the fussy and controversial lawyer and president Puigdemont, a true pest for the Spanish state. What's certain is that Monday's police operation, 48 hours later, could not be more ridiculous and, if we move away from the unionist Madrid media bubble, which is going round in circles on its own theories, the condemnation from the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers cannot be more explicit, likewise the statements from international lawyer bodies.
It's obvious that, depending on what use ends up being made of the sensitive material obtained, I repeat, a side effect of police intervention in a case linked to drug trafficking, the situation can end up providing confidential client-attorney information in the case of Puigdemont and other political prisoners. Likewise relating to other clients the lawyer might have. That shouldn't happen in any case, even more so with the paradoxical situation of Boye being free without bail measures. But what's certain is that his mobile has been cloned and the hypothetical use that could be made of it is absolutely beyond his control. And, to come, there's the start of proceedings next Tuesday in Belgium in the extradition request from judge Pablo Llarena in name of the kingdom of Spain. You don't have to be particularly suspicious to believe more in causation than correlation.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Diego García-Sayán, has expressed his concern over the attacks against Boye and has called for lawyers to be able to practice their profession free from influence, pressure and political or governmental control. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, with headquarters in Berlin, denounced the operation to the Special Rapporteur, saying that the police's actions were based on a false pretext with the objective of discrediting Boye. They are important positions to take towards a situation which has moved beyond Spain's borders. A reason that's more than sufficient for international bewilderment when they try to drag you through the mud.