Those arrested for boycotting the Vuelta at the exit of the Solsona court on August 28th. Siu Wu (EFE)
The National Court has examined the attempted boycott of the Vuelta Ciclista a España 2023. Judge Joaquín Gadea has opened proceedings to investigate the connection between the Catalan independence groups calling themselves CDR (Committees for the Defense of the Republic) and the sabotage frustration of August 28 last year, when four people allegedly prepared a device to kill hundreds Liters of liquid (similar to motor oil) spilled as the train passed through the province of Lleida. The Central Investigative Court 6, where Gadea carries out reinforcement tasks, has already pushed forward other proceedings against the CDR for terrorist crimes.
More information
This new procedure, initiated after receiving a previous report from the National Police, is still at a very early stage. Their first objective is to determine whether the National Court has the powers to take over the investigation, which was transferred at the end of August to a first instance investigative court in Solsona (Lleida), which released the four detainees. As context, Judge Gadea naturally brings into play that the CDR promoted boycotts against the Vuelta in the days before the cycling test. The judge also recalls that these groups represent a “hierarchy” and a “structured organization of a transversal nature aimed at bringing together the entire independence movement”.
The CDR was launched during the independence effort in the fall of 2017 with the aim of enabling the celebration of the illegal referendum on October 1st. Their numerous actions that have taken place since then include road and railway closures. Although the security forces also consider them a possible source of terrorist threat. In fact, the National Court is prosecuting 12 cdr for the formation of an alleged “radical” cell called the Tactical Response Team (ERT), whose ultimate goal was “to achieve the independence of Catalonia through the use of force in the maximum form”. According to the summary, this small group prepared a plan to occupy and “later defend” Parliament and accumulate materials for making explosives.
“Flammable and slippery material”
The investigation into the boycott of the Vuelta began in a court in Lleida for alleged crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, public order, road safety and the environment. At the same time, however, the state police sent a report to the state court on September 7th. After receiving it, Judge Gadea issued the order on Tuesday to initiate its own investigation. As a first initiative, the judge has asked the security forces to send him all the data and information linking the CDR to the four detainees (José Oriol Macia, David Farrés, Josep Cassany and Xavier Carpena). He has also asked to be informed if any of those arrested “appear to be related to other investigations related to the CDR”.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
During his ruling, the judge reviews what happened. Police reported that on August 26, during the stage that was scheduled to take place on Monday, they surprised four people red-handed as they tried to activate an “ingenious” mechanism to spill two barrels of liquid in the path of the peloton. August 28th between Suria (Barcelona) and Arinsal (Andorra). According to the Interior Ministry, the agents discovered the detainees “in a wooded area in the Solsonès region of Ilerda.” The device, which had a timer, was hidden in the vegetation: “Including the hose that was supposed to pour out the liquid and that reached the aforementioned road, making it difficult to detect,” the researchers emphasized.
“Apparently they had the intention to sabotage the Vuelta as it prepared to pass through the Solsonès region by spilling about 400 liters of an apparently flammable and slippery material on the C-55 highway,” explains Judge Gadea: “That Device consisted of two barrels of 200 liters each, filled with a black liquid that smelled of burnt vehicle oil and fuel, connected by an irrigation pipe that protruded from the highest part of the tunnel and from where the stream of liquid flowed directly into the tunnel . Street. An automatic irrigation solenoid valve was attached to the pipe. About two meters from the solenoid valve, hidden in the vegetation, a box painted camouflage green was found containing a 12-volt battery and a timer.
The judge focuses on the “seriousness” of the defeated lawsuit and the potential harm sought. “It is also a perfectly planned and organized event,” he emphasizes in his car provided by El Mundo, to which EL PAÍS had access. According to the judge, the authors of the plan were guided by the “will to harm an indeterminate number of people” and took “numerous security measures” to avoid being associated with the boycott – they did not have their cell phones. and “They used secondary roads with complex passability to reach the point where they installed the mill” –.
Gadea affirms that this sabotage “is contextualized within the framework of a boycott campaign against the Vuelta, widely spread on social networks by radical groups with pro-independence ideology, taking advantage of the international showcase that the Vuelta offers.” [prueba] Cyclists to give visibility to his cause.” On August 27, a day after the four suspects were arrested, another dangerous incident occurred with the athletes: while descending the Coll d’Estenalles, someone threw devices that resembled a thumbtack , and caused tire damage to cyclists several hundred kilometers away. The Mossos launched a further investigation into these events.
After the arrests for sabotage of the drums, dozens of people gathered in front of the Solsona courts to demand his release. The general secretary of Junts himself, Jordi Turull, supported them: “We demand the immediate release of those detained.” Of the “preliminary” and “preventive” measures against protest actions of the independence movement, we already know what their intention is and how they usually end. “Protesting is not a crime,” he wrote on Twitter. The judge released the four on August 28 but imposed a restraining order against them from at least 500 meters from the stages of the Vuelta.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits