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“Puigdemont in prison” – protest poster in Madrid

Photo: Oscar del Pozo / AFP

The Supreme Court in Spain has opened a terrorism investigation against Catalan independence supporter Carles Puigdemont.

According to a statement, the investigations are related to protests following the failed referendum on Catalonia's independence in 2017. Puigdemont is therefore being investigated "for terrorist offenses" in connection with the actions of the "Democratic Tsunami" group and, if necessary, he should be prosecuted.

In doing so, the court on Thursday contradicted the position of the Attorney General, who had rejected such proceedings.

Protest actions by Catalan activists

The “Democratic Tsunami” is a group of Catalan activists.

She called for protests following the imprisonment of several independence supporters two years after the referendum.

In October 2019, thousands of activists blocked access to Barcelona airport for hours.

More than a hundred flights were canceled and there were violent clashes with the police.

Members of the movement committed serious crimes against freedom and physical integrity as well as other attacks, the judges wrote.

There is numerous evidence that Puigdemont played a leading role in the protest movement.

The former Catalan regional president Puigdemont was the leader of the court-banned referendum for Catalonia to secede from Spain.

After his dismissal by the central government in Madrid, he went into exile in Belgium in October 2017 to avoid prosecution in Spain.

The Spanish government of Social Democrat Pedro Sánchez is currently negotiating a controversial amnesty law that will enable Puigdemont to return to Spain.

In return, Puigdemont made Sánchez prime minister with the votes of his Junts party after the summer election.

Terrorism investigations are politically sensitive

Conservatives and right-wing radical opposition members had called on their supporters to resist the planned law.

Since then, there have been repeated large demonstrations against the law, and the Spanish judges, some of whom are considered conservative, have intensified their prosecution efforts against Puigdemont.

The terrorism investigation is so sensitive because the allegations may not fall under the planned amnesty law.

Puigdemont's parliamentarians recently voted against a first version of the amnesty law in the Madrid parliament because they feared that the procedure would not be prevented by the law in its current version.

Negotiators from both parties are currently negotiating a new wording.

The opposition People's Party (PP) welcomed the decision.

"The rule of law cannot be bought," said the general secretary of the conservative PP, Cuca Gamarra, as the newspaper "El Periódico de España" reported.

However, last year the PP tried in vain to get votes from Puigdemont's Junts party for the later failed election of its leader as head of government.

muk/AFP