The snowball effect activated by judges, politicians and media against Adrià Carrasco, which forced him into exile in Belgium on April 10th, 2018 once he learned that he was accused of terrorism, sedition and public disorder, reached the end of its trajectory this Monday outside the Catalan High Court in Barcelona. The young man from Esplugues de Llobregat has returned from exile after a judge in Granollers, the last to hear his case, threw out the file. Nearly three years in exile, a very long time, for a case initiated by Spain's National Audience and Civil Guard which accused him of terrorism and of being the head of the CDRs - a case which, as time has gone by, has collapsed like a house of cards.
But in this case, as in others we have seen, the ultimate goal was to cause the maximum fear possible among the public and make it clear that the repression against the Catalan independence movement was still alive, and also, that it was indiscriminate. The case against Adrià Carrasco did not stand up, and that was seen from the outset. But for more than thirty months, it was moved from court to court, a total of ten times. Yes, ten different judicial instances before it was finally closed. Strange and inexplicable as it may seem, this was the situation until the judge in Granollers argued that he was closing the case because there was no evidence to prove the crime. That is, it was all a frame-up.
The Spanish state has seen in recent days how the whole arsenal of fake news, inconsistent extradition orders and indiscriminate repression, is gradually being dismantled and heading towards a final result of nothing. The Belgian judiciary made a huge hole in the Supreme Court last week, following the refusal to extradite Catalan minister Lluís Puig, a circumstance that almost certainly will be repeated in a few months with Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí. Time is not on the side of the Spanish state, although the damage that its victims have suffered - or are still suffering - is permanent and indelible. The longer it takes the Pedro Sánchez government to grant pardons to the political prisoners and the others persecuted for the October 1st referendum, the more it will be seen that all that exists is political calculation, when the point is not to be magnanimous, but to be just.
And it is imperative that the independence movement demands an amnesty law and finds a way to bend the will of the current Spanish government, comfortably sheltering in the fallacy that it is impossible. Parliamentary majorities are for this purpose and Pedro Sánchez and Pablo Iglesias must be made to understand that they will not be able to look at Catalan society face to face if there is no political move such as an amnesty. Speaking clar i català as the saying goes - that is, putting it bluntly - the amnesty must not be negotiable, but rather must be the essential condition for any negotiation. Something that is radically different. Failure to insist on this implies that cases such as that of Adrià Carrasco or the infamous October 1st referendum trial in the Supreme Court are accepted.