The prosecution has requested to archive the complaints filed by the far-right entities Vox and Hazte Oír against former Interior Minister Joan Ignasi Elena; the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the former chief commissioner of the Mossos Eduard Sallent; and the lawyer of Carles Puigdemont, Gonzalo Boye, ruling out that the Catalan police and political authorities gave “orders” to prevent the arrest of the former president on August 8.
According to the lieutenant prosecutor of the Superior Prosecutor’s Office of Catalonia, Pedro Ariche, the police operation in Mossos that did not achieve its objective of arresting the former president “could, depending on its results, be criticized or even censored”, but it must be judged. It was stressed that there were “orders or instructions” from the former minister and the heads of the regional police to prevent the arrest of Puigdemont.
The prosecution’s conclusion dismisses the political orders that allowed the former president to return to Spain, give a speech to his followers and flee again without being arrested, just as Puigdemont did last August, on the day of Salvador Illa’s inauguration. In short, a police failure without any political intention to benefit the former president, as the prosecution concludes.
The irresponsibility of the Mossos political leaders does not mean that Puigdemont’s escape remains uninvestigated: a Barcelona court is investigating three regional police officers for allowing the former president to escape. Furthermore, this Thursday, Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena asked the Barcelona courts to investigate the same events, after once again criticizing the Mossos.
