The judge Manuel Marchena has reappeared: specifically, with the Spanish Supreme Court's decision to retain a case against the Catalan president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, investigating him for a crime of terrorism with regard to the Democratic Tsunami protest platform. No purpose has been served by the report made by Spain's number two prosecutor, correcting the public prosecutors of the high court in their opinion, practically unanimous, that it was necessary to open a case for terrorism. What's more, the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court takes as valid the position of the prosecutors board, leaving aside the official position of the chief prosecutor's office. As if it were an M1 Abrams, the best battle tank in the world, the judicial steamroller crushes everything in its path and the Madrid of the five-star judiciary seems to have decided that it's time to get to work, amidst the scarcely-camouflaged score-settling that would bring down the Spanish government and put an end to the political career of Pedro Sánchez as soon as possible.
The 32-page exposition of the criminal chamber, which explains the evolution of the crime of terrorism in the Spanish state with the sole purpose of arguing for the indictment of the president in exile, Carles Puigdemont, in the Democratic Tsunami case, is truly surprising. At least, if it weren't for the fact that we've already seen almost everything possible, and the ability to surprise ends up being nil. It contains a legal twist more typical of a science fiction novel than a judicial resolution. Puigdemont is not accused of what he did, but of what he did not do and with an argument that is impossible to measure. Thus, it is admitted that he did not take any specific action, nor did he give any order inciting riots, but rather he is charged by his omission, for failing to use his "charismatic support" to order a stop to the protests against the sentencing of the Catalan independence leaders trial, in autumn 2019.
With this move by the Supreme Court, it is intended to send a message to the amnesty negotiators that there will be independentists, and more than a few of them, who will be left out
There has been discussion on previous occasions about the yardsticks for measuring charismatic support, and I admit that every time I've seen it written down, it would precipitate laughter if it weren't for the fact that the subject is extremely serious and has a clear criminal intent. I must also recognize that charismatic support is, on the one hand, an intangible, but on the other, an essential value in a political leader. You can hardly defend yourself against it if you are a former president of the Generalitat of Catalonia. How can you say you have no charismatic support! And what's worse, who will believe you? This is not the only gem to be found in this text, since, for example, in its efforts to equate Democratic Tsunami to the Basque kale borroka it turns the former into a movement, when it was an anonymous technological platform. Because nowhere is there a hierarchy of the platform established nor is it detailed who is responsible for it.
It is also obvious that this move by the Supreme Court is intended to send a message to the amnesty negotiators who, with the draft texts that we know about - which are those rejected by Congress a few weeks ago because what is now in process is unknown - there will be independentists, and more than a few of them, who will be left out. Terrorism and treason remain excluded, even if there were no actions imputable to the independence movement that were either terrorism or treason. This has been the case since Pedro Sánchez's investiture pact was announced and now it is seen more clearly that last November, in a way that had not happened since the time of Adolfo Suárez, the agreement reached woke up the entire sleeping state in its opposition to a prime minister. And it has combined faultlessly with the outbreak - perfectly orchestrated - of the corruption case over the face mask purchases, which already has a few Socialist victims.
Because if it began with the former doorman of a brothel and his protector, ex-minister José Luis Ábalos, it has already targeted the speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol, by asserting that she headed a scam as president of the Balearic Islands, since there was damage done to the public coffers. And warming up the dock to occupy future headlines, is the minister of territorial policy and democratic memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, former president of the Canary Islands, who allegedly also altered contracts to pay for masks with European funds. Really, the PSOE is not faced with a steady drizzle of bad news; it is the great flood.