Since the announcement of the Supreme Court's verdicts on Monday 14th October, 202 people, most of them young, have been arrested around Catalonia. Of these, 129 have had their first appearance before a judge: 28 of them are being held in pretrial detention; 101 have been released with bail measures.
Lawyer Benet Salellas, a member of Jordi Cuixart's defence team during the trial, now representing four of those arrested over the last week (three in Girona, one in Barcelona), says that he has noticed a deterioration in the Spanish police ???. Over the last week, it's been the officers sent to Catalonia as reinforcements who have attended the interrogations and who are guarding those arrested in the courts.
One of those Salellas is representing is Xènia, a 22-year-old woman arrested in Barcelona on Friday. He says that when she was being questioned, the police had their faces covered at all times with balaclavas. The same thing was true during the journey to the courts and her appearance before the judge. Similarly, in Girona, "all the proceedings in the police station have been done with balaclavas", likewise in the courts. Salellas complains: "I've been with [people accused of] terrorism, and never in my life have I seen someone [dressed like that] in the courts" and adds that "it seems logical to us that [those detained] should feel threatened".
But the most worrying thing for Salellas is the police's reports. The anti-riot officers themselves are writing the complaints, which have been reported to contain irregularities.
In the case of Xènia, her lawyer says that when taken into custody she signed a document stating that the police only found protective goggles on her. But the police report talks of snooker balls and pieces of iron. He says similar discrepancies have been in other police reports discussing the reasons behind the arrests. "In the reports, the anti-riot police talk of lots of things being thrown," he says.
Xènia was arrested near plaça Urquinaona. Her lawyer says that just before the police charge she was paralysed with fear and "stayed stuck in the middle of the street". The video below shows parts of her arrest. Reportedly, they continued hitting her in the van and in the station she "suffered harassment".
"That 28 people should enter prison doesn't seem reasonable to me at all", he says, although he's waiting to see how everything develops and if the judges will review the bail measures soon. The majority of those in prison are accused of public disorder and attacking agents of the authorities. The public prosecution service has been ordered to ask the judges to deny bail.