Guardia Civil, unmasked
Today marks a year that the “Jordis” were sent to prison in order to stop the independence movement; their defence claims the distortion of evidence
One year in prison on remand simply for mobilising a good part of the population in favour of the independence of Catalonia; 365 days of punishment so far without trial for the president of Òmnium Cultural, Jordi Cuixart, and the former president of the ANC and JxCat MP, Jordi Sànchez, accused by judge Carmen Lamela of sedition. Remand was confirmed by the Supreme Court, and they are now charged with the crime of rebellion. The “Jordis”, as they are now known, and the other seven prisoners will be tried in January 2019. The prosecution is completing the writs of indictment.
Their defence has demanded access to information collected by the Guardia Civil to be double checked, something which was refused them by the investigating magistrate, Pablo Llarena. They challenge many of the allegations included in the summary. Defence lawyers claim distortion of evidence in many aspects of the summary.
The September 20 protest where 60,000 people gathered outside a government building is crucial to the state and the events there have been blamed directly on the two for incitement to violence. However, it is clear that the police operation at the event was a badly organised and that the Jordis in fact attempted to disband the protest. There are tapes to prove that. The defence argues that the state has deliberately ignored a number of recordings as well as evidence given by other witnesses. It also seems that evidence included in the summary involves people who were not at the scene. Lawyers are keen to prove the “the lack of impartiality”of one of the senior Guardia Civil officers whose evidence is vital.