The former Major, or chief, of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force), Josep Lluís Trapero, has presented an appeal against his prosecution for sedition and membership of a criminal organisation. The appeal was filed on 9th April, and after he appeared before the National Audience court judge today to be formally notified of his prosecution, its contents were made public.
In the 39-page document, Trapero denies any collusion with the Catalan government to promote the referendum: "In this intervention by Mr Trapero, no malicious collusion can be discerned with Mr Puigdemont or Mr Forn. There is observed a great coincidence between the contents of Mr Trapero's intervention to the Security Board and what is decreed by instruction 4/2017 from the secretariate of state", which calls for proportionate intervention.
In the appeal, his lawyer, Olga Tubau, denies some of the accusations. Like following politicians: "There was no surveillance nor counter-surveillance to protect those under investigation for events related to the 1st October referendum".
Trapero says there were never any political instructions for the Mossos to act in favour of the referendum: "It makes it difficult to maintain the existence of alleged coordination between the political leadership of the interior ministry and the commands of the headquarters of the Mossos d'Esquadra, when these last, in an unprecedented act, publicly, communicated their disagreement with the first and showed their commitment with the mandates which could come from the judges, courts and the public prosecutors".
And it agains highlights the meetings in which the Mossos leadership told the political leaders of their disagreements over the resources for the referendum: "it directly clashes with all logic and maximum experience that, there being this supposed agreement of wishes between the political and police leaders, these meetings should take place whose contents ratify that neither our client nor the leadership of the Mossos d'Esquadra, in any way, shared a potential plan tending to the holding of the referendum."
About the police's actions to prevent the referendum, Trapero argues that the order from a judge from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia was not only for the Mossos, but also referred to the National Police and the Civil Guard.
Events of 20th September
The appeal denies the claims of violence on 20th September last year in front of the Catalan economy department: "beyond certain isolated episodes of objects being thrown at police agents, the rally was peaceful and aimed at demonstrating and expressing opposition to specific police and legal actions". "Those gathered there, at no time, made an attempt to enter the building", adds the filing, which conludes that "there was no participation by the Mossos d'Esquadra, and specifically by Mr Trapero, a wilful omission of held to the legal committee and the Civil Guard".
The document specifies the resources deployed in front of the ministry in Barcelona, that it was Ferran López and Teresa Laplana who were in charge of the operation and that each and every request from the Civil Guard was attended to.
Enfocats
About the Enfocats document which Lamela offers as evidence against Trapero, the appeal argues that "there's not a single mention in Enfocats of the figure of the Major of the Mossos d'Esquadra, nor does it place those in charge of the Mossos in the so-called strategic and executive committees".
The appeal also denies that Trapero received orders from Jordi Sànchez, then president of the Catalan National Assembly: "it's in the report dated 5th October 2017, which appears on folios 551 and on of the pretrial proceedings (volume 2), for the first time, and with a basis lacking all consistency, like [the suggestion that] Mr Jordi Sanchez would have spoken by phone with our client on 20th September 2017, that it is concluded, with a complete lack of rigour, that Mr Jordi Sànchez was meant to impart instructions to Mr Trapero as to how he was meant to act, and our client is placed, like this, without further ado, in the organisational diagram of the Enfocats document, specifically in the executive committee".
Tubau gives minimal importance to Enfocats: "when the truth is that Enfocats repeatedly gathers that which is contained profusely in the White paper for the national transition of Catalonia, a document which combined 18 reports produced by the "advisory council of the national transition", having presented this White paper to the then-president of Catalonia, Mr Artur Mas i Gavarró, in a public event held at the Catalan government on 29th September 2014".
And it concludes: "Enfocats offers nothing as incriminatory factors against Mr Trapero".