In campaign. Spanish judge Manuel García-Castellón has summonsed as witnesses the two Spanish National Police officers who were injured in the riots in Barcelona's Plaça Urquinaona on October 18th, 2019, in the protests against the Supreme Court sentencing of the Catalan pro-independence leaders, and who have also entered the Democratic Tsunami case by conducting their own private prosecution. The National Audience judge called them to appear on May 14th, just two days after the Catalan election this Sunday, according to a resolution released to the public this Tuesday, as the Catalan campaign enters its final stretch. The judge's latest decision is once again parallel to political events, since, in addition to making the announcement during the election campaign, it has been announced that the amnesty law, which should cause the case of the Tsunami protest platform to be closed, will be definitively passed by the Congress of Deputies on May 30th.
The two officers, with police ID numbers 104440 and 91464, were seriously injured after one of the protests, but the perpetrator has not been identified, and nor has it been proven that any of those under investigation for terrorism in the case were at the protest that day: not those accused in the National Audience, or Catalan president-in-exile Carles Puigdemont and ERC deputy Ruben Wagensberg, who are being investigated by the Supreme Court over the same case. The two policemen have also been in the news recently because they have asked the Spanish government for compensation as victims of terrorism, although the Tsunami case has not yet been tried, an essential requirement according to the compensation rules.
Video conference offer
In fact, the investigating judge in the Supreme Court made the offer to Puigdemont and Wagensberg that they could testify voluntarily and by videoconference - an unusual offer - given that they are not in Spain, on a date after June 17th. On that date, Puigdemont would no longer have immunity as an MEP, since he is not standing again in the European elections, although he could have similar protection after the Catalan election on 12th May, in which he aspires to be re-elected as president of the Generalitat.
For his part, judge García-Castellón has called the two officers to testify in his court in person, while, exceptionally, allowing the lawyers in the case to take part by video conference. This is a measure justified because there are many parties involved, but it can also be interpreted that the judge does not want to waste time. In particular, in addition to the 10 defence lawyers, there is the public prosecution service - very critical of the judge - and the lawyers for the private prosecutions conducted by Vox, a PP-led foundation and the lawyer for the two policemen.
For now, the judge has not summoned the 10 people investigated for terrorism in the Tsunami case to testify. Of that group, only three are still resident in Spain (Josep Lluís Alay, Oriol Soler and Marta Molina ), while the rest have gone into exile in Switzerland, asserting that their rights are not guaranteed.