Catalan businessperson and friend of Carles Puigdemont, Josep Maria Matamala, has not presented himself at court today, under investigation for concealment. Matamala was with the president when Puigdemont was arrested by German police on 25th March. In the car with them at the time they were stopped were two agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the historian Josep Lluís Alay.
All four were to appear at 10am this morning before Spain's National Audience court. On 28th March, Spanish police arrested the two Catalan police officers and Alay on charges of concealment. All three testified at Barcelona's La Verneda police station and were released pending an appearance before a judge. Matamala, meanwhile, was never taken into custody.
Currently, Matamala is residing in Belgium, where he moved after Puigdemont left Catalonia last October. He tells Catalan news agency ACN that he has received no notification from the Spanish court.
The CDR judge
The case started with an investigation by National Audience prosecutors, who opened proceedings after Puigdemont's arrest in Germany. They said they were acting in response to a report from Spanish police.
Judge De Egea had summonsed the four people who had been travelling with Carles Puigdemont at the time of his arrest to court, under investigation for concealment. The same judge is also investigating the Catalan CDRs (Committees for Defence of the Republic) for terrorism and rebellion. So far that case has seen one arrest, the woman in question having since been freed on bail. Prosecutors have appealed that decision and asked the judge to hold her in custody.
Open government investigation
After Puigdemont's arrest, the Catalan interior ministry (at that time under the effects of article 155 of the Constitution) opened an internal investigation into the two Mossos agents who had accompanied him. Catalan police leadership wants to find out if they have been carrying out bodyguard duties during leave or holiday.