The former president of Catalonia and current MEP, Carles Puigdemont, has made a pointed criticism of Spain over the court investigation into the Democratic Tsunami protest platform, following Switzerland's refusal to cooperate in the case because of "the political nature" of the pro-independence platform's actions, which were certainly not terrorism or the actions of a criminal organization: "Spain thinks that the world works as it does, but it should realize that this only happens with illiberal regimes, which persecute political dissidents for the mere fact of existing", wrote Puigdemont this Friday in a social media message. The MEP and president of the exile-based Council of the Catalan Republic asserted that "all this that they have been doing to us, all the money they have spent, all the resources of Spain dedicated to pursuing independentists, will have a severe punishment" and he pointed out that "the majority of the international decisions on the repression of the independence movement are not at all favourable to Spain".
Puigdemont's statements also follow the UN Human Right Committeee resolution issued this Thursday that accuses the Spanish state of "violating the civil and political rights" of the former president by suspending his status as an elected member of the Parliament of Catalonia "without objective reasons foreseen by the law", although the human rights body also stated that Spain was within its rights in not allowing the exiled leader to present himself as a candidate for the presidency of Catalonia in January 2018. "The violations of fundamental and political rights committed to take revenge for the success of [the October 1st referendum] go unpunished as long as they remain within Spanish political borders; when they cross them, the problems begin and they are called to account," Puigdemont said on Twitter.
Quan Espanya surt del seu cau pensa que el món funciona com ella. S’hauria d’adonar —o li hauria d’importar— que això només passa amb règims il·liberals, que persegueixen dissidents polítics pel sol fet d’existir. Tot això que ens porten fent, tots els diners que porten gastats,… https://t.co/Q6FAJ7fkO9
— krls.eth / Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) May 19, 2023
Switzerland refuses to take part in Tsunami investigation
On Thursday, it emerged that Switzerland had refused to collaborate with Spain's criminal court for serious crime, the National Audience, in the investigation of who is behind the anonymous Democratic Tsunami protest platform, since, in the opinion of the Swiss, the protest actions which the Tsunami group led at the Barcelona-El Prat airport and the AP-7 motorway connection to France fall under the category of "political crime", and not terrorism or criminal organisation, and thus Swiss legislation does not permit international cooperation. This was stated in the summary by the Spanish court, whose classification as secret was only lifted this week, three years and five months after the start of the investigation. Many details remain unclear, with telephone surveillance having been employed against dozens of people, and the accusations against those being investigated still not defined.
Meanwhile, in the face of the news about Switzerland, the prominent Catalan cultural body Òmnium Cultural described the facts of the summary as "absolutely ridiculous on the part of the Spanish state" for "inventing cases against the independence movement which the international community does not even recognize" and they affirmed through a message on social media that "we will demonstrate and exercise our democratic rights as often as necessary".