He also gave the green light to intervene at least 40 devices belonging to others investigated in the case.
The judge of the National Court investigating the ‘Tsunami Democràtic’ platform authorized Civil Guard agents to install “remote software” on the mobile phones of former CUP deputies in Parliament David Fernández and Quim Arrufat and in the of the former deputy of Catalunya Sí que es Pot in the Catalan Chamber between 2015 and 2017 and former leader of Podemos in Catalonia, Alberto Dante Fachin, as confirmed by legal sources to Europa Press.
The decision of magistrate Manuel García Castellón is part of the procedure he directs in the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, in which he investigates who the promoters of ‘Tsunami Democràtic’ are to determine how the protests that in 2019 were orchestrated – after the sentence of the Supreme Court that condemned the leaders of the ‘procés’– caused street riots, road blockages and even the blockade of the El Prat airport.
According to ‘El País’ and the aforementioned sources have confirmed, the instructor gave the order to the Benemérita to intervene in the mobile devices of Fernández and Arrufat as well as Dante Fachin in January 2020, a few months after the agents asked the judge to take this measure.
The judge gave his approval to these interventions after the researchers pointed out Fernández as “the first person who publicly used the concept of ‘Democratic Tsunami’, in November 2014, regarding the first illegal self-determination consultation.”
From the documentation contained in the summary, and to which this news agency has had access, it appears that the magistrate also gave the green light for the Armed Institute to act on the telephone number of Joan Matamala, a businessman close to the escaped former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. , that of the activist Martí Olivella, or that of the computer scientists Jordi Baylina and David Franquet.
Furthermore, according to the aforementioned sources, access was also authorized to the terminal of Elías Campo, a member of the Citizen Lab think tank, which uncovered the alleged espionage with Pegasus on Catalan activists and politicians. Campo was already identified by the Civil Guard as one of the external collaborators for the development of the VOCDONI project, an application for mobile phones that allows mass voting.
According to an order of October 10, 2019 by which the measure to intervene in two terminals was agreed, the program used was a ‘software’ that allows, “remotely and telematically, the remote examination and without the knowledge of its owner or user”.
This software allows access, among others, to the contact book, the video call log, the email account associated with the mobile phone, the web browsing history and communications on social networks. It also allows you to activate the device’s microphone to “capture and record oral communications,” according to the details of the car to which Europa Press has had access.
The aforementioned sources assure that, as with the previous ones, the same measure was agreed for another 40 cell phones belonging to other people under investigation. In the order in which the measure was adopted, the judge explained that he authorized the interventions “given the exceptional seriousness of the crimes committed,” in reference to the indications of an alleged crime of terrorism.
INTERVENED CONVERSATIONS
One of the records shows that the investigators became aware, as a result of the installation of “remote software” on the mobile phone of a computer scientist allegedly linked to Tsunami, Montero de Quadras, of the “links of Martí Olivella” – to whom referred to as “one of the leaders of the Catalan independence movement, member of the NOVACT Technical Team (International Institute for Non-Violent Action)”– with the organization ‘Tsunami Democràtic’.
Likewise, the researchers managed to collect data “from a group called THINK CAT: ESTAT 4.0, shared with the members of the self-proclaimed Think Cat79”, among whom is Joan Canadell Brugera, president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce between 2019 and 2021, according to the documentation that works in the procedure.
Furthermore, according to the information extracted from Baylina’s mobile terminal, “a network of seven digital companies established in Estonia has been identified, whose sole administrators or members of the board of directors are the same ones participating in the development” of the aforementioned VOCDONI project.
As a result of the installation of the “remote software” on the cell phones of those investigated, “the participation of Matamala” in the events could also be noted. The agents reached this conclusion thanks to a conversation that the businessman had with the also investigated Jordi Milla “in which they discuss logistical and organizational aspects of the implementation of what they call ‘second wave’ within the scope of the Consell per la República, concluding that local councils should be established, concentrating them by municipalities or regions”.
