The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) rules out the existence of a criminal offence on the part of the Junts deputies who “incriminated” themselves for having participated in the escape of Carles Puigdemont, last August, when the “former president” reappeared in Barcelona and, after giving a speech from the Arc de Triomphe, he left Spanish territory again without being arrested.
Several members of the party, including Albert Batet, Francesc de Dalmases and Antoni Castellá, sent a letter to the Catalan court to explain that they had participated in the acts of accompaniment and support for Puigdemont.
Once the judicial resolution is known, Junts considers that if there is no crime in the case of the deputies, the events of August 8, the date on which Puigdemont appeared in the Catalan capital, cannot be considered criminal for anyone, and therefore, it is confirmed, they maintain, that the operation of the Department of the Interior and the statements of the then councilor Joan Ignasi Elena and the commissioner of the Mossos d’Esquadra Eduard Sallent, in the subsequent press conference, were misplaced.
And, after the former president’s escape, Elena and the current head of the Catalan police explained that they had tried to “arrest” Puigdemont and had not succeeded. “The plan that was designed provided that the arrest would be carried out proportionally and at the most opportune moment so as not to cause disturbances to public order,” they explained after their escape.
Now, Junts hopes that the new ministry, now in the hands of Núria Parlón, will take advantage of the opportunity to “correct the mistake of its predecessors.”
