J. G. Albalat – BARCELONA – Thursday, 10/09/2020
National police agents try to evict the people gathered at the doors of the Ramon Llull school in Barcelona on 1-O. / FERRAN NADEU
The Trial Court 13 of Barcelona has concluded the summary opened by the organization of the unilateral referendum of 1-O and the creation of the so-called State structures, according to the judicial order to which EL PERIÓDICO has had access. After three years of investigation, Judge Alejandra Gil has sent the case, where thirty people are listed as being processed, to the Barcelona Court, where the trial will be held in the future. From now on, the procedures will begin so that the prosecution and popular accusations present their qualification letter. Then it will be the defense’s turn.
In April of last year, the court decided the prosecution of 30 of those investigated for the crimes of embezzlement, disobedience, falsehood, disclosure of secrets and prevarication. In no case for sedition. The judge also rejected the accusation of criminal organization that the prosecution claimed. Among the defendants were high-ranking officials from the regional Administration, such as Antoni Molons, secretary of Diffusion and Citizen Attention of the Department of the Presidency of the Generalitat; Joaquim Nin Borreda, general secretary of this council; Jaume Clotet Planas, General Director of Communication; Saul Gordillo, director of Catalunya Radio and Vicent Sanchis, director of TV3.
Possible appeal
The prosecution is studying the possibility of filing an appeal against the judge’s decision to conclude the summary. Last August, the Public Ministry asked the magistrate to extend the period of investigation for one more year because, in their opinion, there are still some procedures to be carried out.
The indictment stated that since 2012 “with increasing intensity”, the Catalan Executive has carried out a series of legislative acts that reveal the “firm intention” to hold an endorsement consultation, rehearsed in November 2014, in order to “exercise the right of self-determination and the constitution of a new state, independent of Spain “. This intention, the judge stressed, was reflected in the referendum of October 1, 2017 and its “corollary” in the declaration of independence made on October 27 of that same year by the then Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont.
Strategy and common plan
The judicial order stated that “a strategic line” was drawn to be able to assume the “unequivocal commitment” to achieve independence and to be able to hold the referendum, despite the mandates of the Constitutional Court. The magistrate emphasizes that the thirty defendants were “aware of the illegality of the actions aimed” at holding the sovereign consultation and from their departments and areas of action carried out “actions and some issued resolutions with which they had public funds” for financing the 1-O Referendum. In her opinion, “there was a common plan” and each one of the defendants “contributed decisively to the achievement of the joint goal.”
The judge reported that “an act of commitment to the referendum was even held”, specifically on April 21, 2017 of senior officials of the Generalitat, of the members of the government, an act in which the reading and signing of a manifesto and a subsequent speech by Vice President Oriol Junqueras and de Puigdemont.
The succession of evidence to support the accusation of the different crimes, the facts that the magistrate considers define a compartment tending to organize a series of actions that will ensure the celebration of a summons that is judicially declared illegal, thereby compromising the public budget.
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