The Barcelona Court has confirmed the decision of the Court of Instruction 7 to prosecute 46 officers of the National Police for the charges committed during the celebration of the 1-O referendum in the city. In an order, the court rejects all appeals against the prosecution of the police officers and confirms the decision. The teacher processed them in January 2023, at the end of the investigation into the allegations at various schools in the city. In this way, the court refuses to prosecute additional agents – as requested in the accusations of Irídia, ANC and Òmnium – nor to file the case for the defendants, as requested by the defense.
In the order that the court now confirms, the instructor concluded that at the IES Pau Claris “those responsible for the police operation clearly failed in their obligation to monitor the actions of the agents under their command, since, as stated in resolutions was not the case.” “In previous cases before this court and under various orders of the Barcelona court, the police action was generally clearly disproportionate.” In this school, the police officer who jumped from a staircase to kill a child was identified man and three officers who were seen in videos throwing several people down the stairs face criminal charges.
Regarding the Escola Mediterrània, where there were 20 complainants and among the injured was an 82-year-old man, the judge recounts, based on the images of the day: “The agents go directly towards the crowd and, without saying a word, give a warning or.” Without any request, they begin to push the people gathered there, triggering a violent situation of great confusion, which escalates to the point where they see people thrown to the ground, a person with a bloody face and an agent attacking the person with his in the face hits defense. People who have already been displaced.”
The judge confirmed that the person responsible for the device breached police regulations with this order, adding that “a real police charge was made at this school because of the way in which it was carried out “Lack of notice had various harmful consequences.” He pursues the head of this device and seven other police officers, one of whom stands out for his “particularly serious act”: he hit several people who had already been evicted with his baton in the face and kicked a person who was trying to get up. He landed on the ground and hit another person who was trying to help him in the face.
In the Escoles Pies de Sant Antoni, the images showed “a particularly violent and disproportionate approach by the agents,” who struck without warning or negotiation, the judge says. “Agents are seen punching people, kicking people, grabbing people by the neck, throwing people to the ground and even hitting people with batons who are no longer at the school door or have an aggressive attitude towards the officers,” and the judge emphasizes that this is the case The team that intervened in this center is the same that went to the IES Pau Claris and the Escola Mediterrània.
The judge indicts several police officers for their actions at IES Víctor Català: one police officer hit a voter, two picked up a person by the leg and then one of them lifted an elderly man from the ground by pulling him by the ears. The instructor specifically mentions the police officer seen in a video punching a man in the face, and also accuses an agent who threw a person to the ground and then punched him, in addition to his intent kick him. the hand of a person sitting on the floor.
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At CEIP Prosperitat, 11 people reported injuries, including one man who reported “that he was thrown down some steps by the agents and sustained an injury to his ear that required stitches,” according to his medical report. The man filed a complaint against the police officer and the judge decided to prosecute the agent and the head of the device at the school because “as can be seen from the images taken, there are clear deficiencies in the procedure regarding the regulations and Protocols.” Police officers and emphasizes that the police did not negotiate or warn about the charges, but used force a few seconds after their arrival.
“In some cases it is clearly unnecessary, taking into account the presence in the crowd of people of different types, without any aggressive attitude and with elderly people among them,” the judge added about the use of police force.
At the CEIP Ramon Llull, where around twenty complaints were collected, the judge indicts a police officer for grabbing and dragging a person by the neck. Ten people reported police operations in El Guinardó CAP: The case is submitted to the head of the unit since there is no evidence that he gave a specific order to indict, but the judge indicts a police officer for intervening without first to have made an attempt to mediate or to make a report.
“The fact that one approaches the crowd with a loudspeaker and, without interruption or waiting of any kind, begins to forcibly eject people from the place, in a manner that is obviously harmful to the public, cannot in any way be considered sufficient “Some people,” argues the judge as he prosecutes him.
The person responsible for the device at CEIP Els Horts will also be prosecuted for a “clearly disproportionate and unnecessary” act, and three other police officers will be prosecuted for allegedly injuring two women at CEIP Marenostrum.
There are also police officers who are being prosecuted for their actions in the CEIP Àgora, where the judge notes that there were charges of “indiscriminate use” of the baton.
In the CEIP Dolors Monserda, the judge indicts a police officer for allegedly injuring four people and two others for allegedly injuring a person in addition to his hierarchical superior: “We are not dealing with isolated or specific cases, but with the actions of ” ” The agents under investigation could not have gone unnoticed by this person, and yet there is no evidence that he tried to avoid it or that he gave the appropriate instructions so that the events did not occur,” the judge reasons.
In relation to the CEIP Pau Romeva, a police officer is being prosecuted for a “clearly intentional act aimed solely at causing injury to the complainant, allegedly in retaliation for a previous insult”.
At the Infant Jesús School, where there are five complainants, the judge highlights “the particular circumstance that, after the police operation began, it was decided not to enter the school and no material was confiscated, with the police officers interpreting the order in such a way that they The TSJC only allowed access to public schools and not to private ones, as is the case, and recognized this fact when the action had already begun. For this reason, the judge considers that the police action had no specific purpose, “which in a sense constitutes a gratuitous police action and is therefore much less justified,” and files charges against the person responsible for the operation and one of the agents.
Two crimes are included in the amnesty law
EITHER. LOPEZ FONSECA
The decision of the Barcelona Provincial Court to confirm the prosecution of the 46 police officers for the crime of minor bodily harm or violation of moral integrity – both of whom are among those who would be granted the amnesty law – undermines part of the argument made by the unions and associations The National Police and the Civil Guard have spoken out head-on against the project since the negotiations between the government and Junts became known. In their criticism, the representatives of the agents assured that, at the time of writing, these national police officers and 27 civil guards were also being prosecuted for injuries resulting from their deployment in schools in Girona during the illegal referendum in Catalonia on October 1, 2017 from the measure of mercy and would be judged, while those who caused the conflict would be exonerated.
The unions – which also claimed that simply agreeing to the rule would constitute a “degradation” to the agents – were hurt both that day and in the October 2019 clashes after the verdict was announced, which the independence leaders sentenced for the trial. – They had maintained this distrust of the law until today, although he had assured them during a recent meeting with Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska that no agent would be brought to justice if the clemency measure was finally approved. In fact, this Thursday the Police Justice Union (Jupol, the majority of the National Police) and the agent platform from which it emerged, Police Salary Justice (Jusapol), held a protest rally near the Interior Headquarters in Madrid, attended by fifty people along with various labor demands regarding retirement and salaries, insisted on their opposition to the amnesty law. On the one hand, its leaders criticized the fact that the amnesty law excludes police officers who were prosecuted, while at the same time demanding that they not be included in the amnesty law because they had not committed any crimes.
Jupol and Jusapol are the two police organizations leading the offensive against Pedro Sánchez's government, sometimes promoted by right-wing parties. In the last two years, together with Jucil (Judge of the Civil Guard), both have organized three large demonstrations in Madrid, two of them with the aim of influencing a political law, the reform of the Citizen Security Law – known as the Gag Law. In its campaign for the union elections, in which Jupol suffered a serious setback by losing half of its representation, the union took credit for the supposed success of defeating the reform of the gagging law, when in reality it was the disagreement of the Leftists acted. wing parties in Congress, which led to the failure of the norm change.
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