More names to be investigated in the case of the Democratic Tsunami protest platform. Spanish judge Manuel García-Castellón nows wants to question an officer of Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra police force, whom the Civil Guard have identified as the person who uses the alias 'Xuxu Rondinaire' on social media and is suspected of giving security information to those investigated in the Tsunami case. Specifically, the judge has asked the Mossos to inform if this person is a member of the Catalan police force, according to a resolution released this Tuesday. Sources close to the investigation have confirmed to ElNacional.cat that he is an active police officer, as suspected by García-Castellón, and the judge has, as well as lodging his official information demand, opened a separate confidential section of the case in order to protect the officer's identity. The judge called for the identification of this person after putting to the Civil Guard the question of whether the Tsunami suspects wanted to "take action when king Felipe VI's entourage was passing by" during a royal visit to Barcelona in July 2020, a question which the judge came up with based on generic conversations.
In the new resolution, the National Audience judge recalls that in January, in a judicial report he issued on the case, he highlighted a conversation from July 12th and 13th, 2020, about the king's visits, which was included in the Tsunami investigative evidence, and of which he admits that until that point he had not made reference in his investigation which extends over the period from 2016 to 2022. Specifically, one of the people under investigation, the Girona businessperson Josep Campmajó, spoke to the figure named Xuxu Rondinaire, with profile @marietadelulllviu, about mobilizations in 2019, using the Wire messenger app. The judge has asked for the identification of this person, information now obtained by the Civil Guard, which details that they used Europol to ask the Swiss authorities for the Wire firm to identify the person behind this pseudonym, with a profile that is also used in Proton Mail, an encrypted email system. In the police cooperation form requesting the information, the Spanish officers indicate to the Swiss authorities that the investigation is for the crime of terrorism.
Thirteenth person under investigation?
Judge García-Castellón reactivated the Tsunami case last November, at the same time as the negotiations for the proposed amnesty on Catalan independence-related offences were reaching their climax. At that point, he included the names of 12 people being investigated for the crime of terrorism, including the Catalan president-in-exile Carles Puigdemont. Since then, the Supreme Court has taken over the investigation of Puigdemont and the ERC deputy Ruben Wagensberg, due to their status as elected representatives, while the rest continue to be part of the National Audience investigation. It has recently emerged that at least 7 of the 12 investigated have decided to go into exile in the face of what they consider to be judicial persecution. One of those who has left the Spanish state is Campmajó. And, if the judge continues in his current line, "Xuxu Rondinaire" could be the 13th person investigated in the Tsunami case.
Security details
In its report, the Civil Guard asserts that the alleged Mosso officer referred to using the alias Xuxu Rondinarie revealed "the characteristics of a security operation for the journeys taken by a known figure, such as the use of fast routes from the airport to the event venue, the composition of the mobile entourage with the vehicles deployed and even the reconnaissance placed permanently on the route and the stationing of police at intersections, bridges, intersections, etc." However, the statements made are generic, and in the massive mobilizations called by the Tsunami Democràtic platform against the Supreme Court's sentencing of the pro-independence leaders, no incident was carried out against king Felipe VI's entourage.
For the judge, suspicious statements that were attributed to Xuxu Rondinaire are: "I don't know whether there is something prepared for fast routes and they know it; What do you mean they avoided the fast route like last time? Where? In addition, there will be at least one Mosso or local police officer at every intersection. From a few hours before, the R guard patrols up and down the whole route; Explain what you want to do and I'll tell you if it's worth it or you'll waste your time like at Camp Nou; And a couple of hours beforehand, they travel along the route with the whole entourage (without the public figure), a traffic control car, ambulance, two R guard cars and his vehicle...".
"They didn't exist"
However, the Civil Guard does remind the National Audience judge that there was no incident in Catalonia in relation to the visit of the Spanish king. It states that "as for the planned actions against the king's visit to Catalonia, according to open sources, the Girona CDRs apparently expressed their displeasure about this visit, initially planned to Barcelona and Figueres. It adds: "Regarding the actions taken against this visit, it should be noted that they did not exist", and that the visit was eventually changed and their majesties visited the monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet, in Tarragona, "there is no record of any incident while it took place".