The Catalan government has presented a formal complaint against the Civil Guard this Saturday for the interrogations carried out during the week of high-ranking officials and employees of the government in relation to the 1st October referendum. The government considers that several crimes could have been committed, after the controversy between the judge and the Civil Guard with regards who ordered the declarations, and for the accusatory communication from the agents to those interrogated.
Hem presentat denuncia contra els responsables dels interrogatoris de la Guàrdia Civil pel @referendumpacte . Defensem la democràcia !! pic.twitter.com/ecIf5DiuNc
— Jordi Turull i Negre (@jorditurull) 29 of julio of 2017
The Minister of the Presidency, Jordi Turull, informed about filing the complaint through a message on social media, and after he had already announced last Wednesday that he would do so at a press conference in the Palau of the Generalitat.
Therefore, the government, by order of Minister Turull, has denounced the Civil Guard who conducted the interrogations, as well as "any other person who could be directly related to the facts that are denounced". According to the document registered by the Court of Instruction number 15, the government considers that the agents could have committed crimes of "obstruction to justice", "usurpation of attributions", "false documentation", "violation of secrets" and a crime "against individual rights".
Among the high-ranking officials of the Catalan government interrogated this week, there was the Director General for Publicity, Ignasi Genovès, the Communications and Press Director for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anna Molas, the Director of Communication, Jaume Clotet, the Secretary General of the Presidency, Joaquim Nin, and the Director General of Citizen Attention, Jordi Graells. In addition, on Thursday the spokesman of the executive committee of the National Pact for the Referendum, Joan Ignasi Elena, also declared.
Controversial interrogations
They all declared before the Civil Guard within the framework of police investigations into the preparations for the 1st October referendum. Interrogations that have led to a great deal of controversy over the clash that occurred between the Civil Guard and the judge investigating the case.
As also stated in the complaint presented by the government, the Civil Guard agents, during their actions, always stated that they were doing so in the framework of "investigations ordered by the Court of Instruction No.13 of Barcelona". However, later, in a press release, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) revealed that the proceedings "had not been requested by the magistrate of Instruction 13 of Barcelona".
In addition, the government also denounced the Civil Guard for communicating to some of those interrogated (Joaquim Nin and Jaume Clotet) that they were accused, since the police do not have that authority, and only the judge can formalise this part of an investigation. Even though the Civil Guard acts in this case as a judicial police, and that it can find evidence to investigate, it can only then make a report to take a stand but not accuse directly.
For this reason, the government is asking the judge to investigate if there has been a crime of "usurpation of attributions" and of "obstruction to justice". In addition, it also considers that there could have been "false documentation", because the proceedings have not been ordered by court number 13, and something that was exposed in the documents given to those interrogated.
Aggressive agents
Furthermore, the complaint also shows that in the interrogation of the Director General of Citizen Attention, Jordi Graells, the tone of the declaration "kept rising" and "showed aggressiveness". He also states that "he was accused of constantly lying and of the 'serious consequences that could mean for him'". Also, according to the complaint, there were occasionally "some vulgar expressions" and in "bad taste".
For this behaviour, the government has also denounced a crime of obstruction to justice, since it considers that they could have been trying to influence the declaration through intimidation.
Finally, the government has also denounced that the Spanish police filtered information related to the case to the press. Precisely, it denounces that they informed "specific media" that there would be declarations and that they were already waiting at the door of the police barracks. In addition, they say that the specific media already knew the reason for the subpoena and even that they had "declared under investigation".
In this case, it considers that there has been a violation of secrets and that the deponents have been exposed to a "serious and totally unwarranted situation of authentic media lynching".
The complaint has been registered in court number 15 and will be distributed so that a judge can evaluate the case and decide if it will admit it formally.