A new punishment for a pro-independence protest. The Spanish Supreme Court has sentenced Dani Gallardo to four years in prison for the crimes of public disorder and an attack on police officers, arising from a protest in Madrid against the convictions for sedition of the Catalan pro-independence leaders, on October 16, 2019, according to a resolution communicated this Thursday. The criminal chamber of the Supreme Court was required to review Gallardo's initial sentence of 4 and a half years in prison, handed down by the Madrid Audience and ratified by the High Court of Madrid. Now, the highest Spanish court has heard the appeal and only reduced his sentence by six months: the crime of public disorder reduces from one year to six months, but the court maintains the three and a half years for the crime of attacking police officers. This implies that Gallardo, if nothing changes, will have to return to prison, where he already spent a year in pre-trial detention for these events.
In the resolution, the Supreme Court affirms that Dani Gallardo and Elsa (sentenced to one year in prison) must be acquitted of the aggravated variant of public disorder (carrying weapons and taking action in a demonstration), but must be convicted of the crime of public disorder of the basic type, in force at the time of the events, and must be sentenced to 6 months in prison. However, the court upholds the sentence of 3 years and 6 months in prison to Gallardo for the crime of assault against officers of the authority and minor injuries. The Spanish high court considers it proven that while a policeman was trying to restrain the other accused, Gallardo "hit him from behind suddenly and violently, with a wooden stick about 90 centimetres long and 7 centimetres wide with six nails in it, with two blows on the head of the officer" who was wearing a helmet. The court maintains that "despite the fact that the injury caused was slight, it does not prevent aggravation" due to the danger involved.