Espionage case dismissed
Judge confirms that the Mossos’ investigations into politicians and lawyers, intercepted before incineration, were carried out to “protect public order”
The head of magistrate court number 22 in Barcelona, Emili Vilà Mayo, has dismissed the various complaints and accusations against the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, who were accused of investigating people opposing Catalan independence for political reasons. The files from these investigations were intercepted by the Spanish police, when they were about to be burnt in the incinerator in Sant Adrià de Besòs, in accordance with police procedure.
National court judge Carmen Lamela authorized the confiscation of these files on October 26 2017, as there was a suspicion that evidence relating to the Catalan referendum was being destroyed. The claimants have already announced that they will file an appeal against the dismissal of the case.
For Vilà Mayo these investigations “affected the privacy of those investigated” but are supported by the law to “protect public order”. He also stated that communications were not intervened with and video surveillance cameras were not used. “No misuse of power took place and no one alleged a use for political purposes,” the magistrate said. For these reasons, he has dismissed accusations of embezzlement of funds and against the right to privacy.
Police officials issued a statement saying: “It has always been affirmed that all procedures carried out by the police force have been based on police criteria alone and any form of political motivation has been unequivocally denied”. The monitoring of the Mossos on the part of agents of the Spanish police force sparked huge controversy, just a few days before article 155 was applied in Catalonia.