Internal investigations of the Mossos too internal

On October 15th of last year, photojournalist Joan Gálvez was shot with a foam bullet while covering a protest in front of the Israeli consulate in Barcelona, despite being identified with a helmet that read the word Press on both sides. The impact was strong enough to send him to the ground, which suggests that the bullet was fired from too close a range. Furthermore, it left a mark on his arm, even though regulations state that one must always aim from the waist down. The inevitable suspicion, with all of this, is that he was aimed at the torso. At the time, almost a year ago, the Mossos said they were opening an internal investigation. Now it has emerged that the case file was closed without even informing the interested parties. In fact, Gálvez was summoned to an Interior Commission at the Parliament where the case was discussed, without being told that a week earlier the Official Bulletin of the Parliament of Catalonia already stated that the investigation was being closed without determining responsibilities for anyone.

To the violence of a possible police abuse is added the institutional violence of dismissing such a case with a line in an official gazette. Gálvez –and the journalistic profession– have the right to know what procedures have been followed and why it was assessed that the action was correct. “We are opening an internal investigation” cannot be the euphemism for saying that you are kicking the can down the road for a few months, selling the idea to the media that you are a rights-guaranteeing police force. More transparency is needed, and the Mossos must explain themselves much better if they want to avoid what some of the photojournalists I have spoken to over the years tell me: that press armbands, far from protecting them, act more like a target. The case has also deserved a criminal complaint that is still active. Depending on how it is resolved, the Catalan police may be exposed, and their image severely damaged.