The convincing, complete and, for some, controversial testimony of Mossos chief Josep Lluís Trapero in the Spanish Supreme Court is, above any other possible reflection, definitive and irrefutable proof that the rebellion of which the defendants are accused did not exist, by distancing the Mossos d'Esquadra police force from any agreement or understanding with the Catalan government to violate the judicial resolutions on the 2017 referendum. So much so, that when Trapero stated under oath in the court that the Catalan police had a concise, written, and detailed plan to arrest president Puigdemont and his ministers if the prosecution or judge had so ordered, the courtroom silence could almost have been cut with a knife.
Trapero has given an honest and professional declaration that has two virtues: firstly, that it extracts, or tries to extract, the Mossos from the grasp of political power and from any accusations about that, as well as showing that all decisions taken at the time complied with the strictest legality. And secondly, it comes to the aid of the Catalan government's argument without deviating one iota from the truth. The charge of rebellion is doubly indefensible since not only was there no violence, indispensable for any accusation, but also there was no police force willing to be the armed wing of the government. Of course, Trapero has prioritized the defence of the police body, and his own professionalism and honour above some hypothetical glamour among pro-independence ranks which he never sought and always rejected. He is a policeman and not a politician and has never tried to fool anyone about that. That is why there was no rejection of the chief's stand among either defendants or exiled leaders at the end of his powerful declaration.
The suspicion that Spain will never forgive police chief Trapero for the Mossos' action in the Barcelona jihadist attack of August 2017, the force's effectiveness when it came to deactivating the terrorist cell and the autonomy it exhibited in its decision making during those days is today more evident. And judging police officers for their police decisions should be the most normal thing in the world. In fact, in all countries this is the case. Let's not, any of us, turn them into something they're not.