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Spanish judiciary confirms end of probe into rumored Russian role in Catalan crisis

The Spanish daily El Diario said the highest judicial body pronounced the verdict because no proof had been found of Russia's rumored interference

© AP Photo/Joan Mateu

MADRID, May 17. /TASS/. Spain's General Council of the Judiciary has confirmed termination of the investigation into allegations Russia had allegedly intervened in the Catalan separatist crisis, the council's press-service told TASS on Monday.

"Termination [of the investigation] is confirmed," the Council said without elaborating.

The Spanish daily El Diario said the highest judicial body pronounced the verdict because no proof had been found of Russia's rumored interference. The daily said the legal proceedings were launched in November 2019 after a police report claiming that Russia might have meddled in the situation in Catalonia. Nine months later the court ruled the secret investigation should be brought to an end in the light of the prosecutor's office opinion. The newspaper said Deputy Prosecutor-General Miguel Angel Carballo reproached the police they had presented testimonies from only one informer and references to media reports.

In November 2019, the newspaper El Pais claimed that Spanish judge Manuel Garcia-Castellon had launched a probe into the suspected activities of a group, allegedly linked with Russian special services, during the Catalan crisis. Russia's ambassador to Spain, Yuri Korchagin, angrily protested media fakes about Russia. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed as "unhealthy" the interest of some Spanish mass media towards the rumors of Russia's meddling in the Catalan crisis.

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