The discrepancy between the judge and the prosecutor regarding the terrorist nature of Tsunami Democràtic is no longer limited to a problem of evidence of crime and its legal classification. The Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court has presented a letter to the instructor this Thursday in which he reproaches him for not having yet processed the key appeal that he must resolve if the investigation continues in the Court for terrorism.
This is the appeal that the prosecutor Miguel Ángel Carballo presented against the order of November 6 in which Judge Manuel García-Castellón charged a dozen people with terrorism and pointed out the alleged responsibility of the accused Carles Puigdemont.
On the 10th the prosecutor appealed, that is, before the court that reviews the judge’s decisions. The appeal must be processed and sent to the court by García Castellón himself, but 20 days later the document is still in court and, therefore, without the possibility of the Criminal Chamber studying the matter.
“This Ministry understands that the Court should have already submitted the appeal filed to the Chamber, which is expressly requested without establishing further delays, which if they persist would be brought to the attention of the Chamber, the only channel that would be left to this Ministry to obtain a response to their effective judicial protection through appeal,” says the prosecutor.
In principle, the judge gave the rest of the parties five days to rule on the prosecutor’s appeal, as established by law. When the writings were available, they had to be sent to the Third Criminal Section for study. But then it happened that, “about to expire said period,” two police officers appeared in the case, “who are required to appear properly and on the 16th,” something that, “however, is not made effective until the 21st, and the Court waits until November 28 to transfer the prosecutor’s appeal for five days, without any other appeal being transferred other than the one already mentioned filed by this Ministry.”
Then the appearance of another police officer arrives, “and we can expect a new transfer of the aforementioned appeal that will endlessly prolong the process.” The sequence is finished with another letter in which the judge offers the State Attorney’s Office to appear in the case, which means opening a new period for him to rule on the prosecutor’s appeal.
When the Third Criminal Section chaired by Judge Alfonso Guevara receives the appeal, it will have to determine if there are signs of terrorism and, if not, if despite this the case should continue to the National Court. Judge García-Castellón sees terrorism and his jurisdiction even if there is none; Prosecutor Carballo only sees serious public disorder in two of the accused and demands that the Tsunami case be sent to the courts of Catalonia.
If the processing of the appeal is delayed, it is possible that the Supreme Court will go ahead, which the judge has asked to take up the case in the presence of Puigdemont and a regional deputy who is also qualified.
