Junqueras: "The Operation Catalonia commission has a political and moral duty to go to the Prosecutor's Office."

MadridThe president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, appeared this Monday afternoon before the commission of inquiry into Operation Catalunya, after it became known in an audio recording that the former number 2 of the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, and the former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, agreed to pursue Esquerra and, according to audio recordings, Junqueras' brother and one of those who offered to collaborate with the patriotic police It was the former mayor of Sabadell, Manuel Bustos. "They violated the general principles of law with a misunderstood patriotic enthusiasm," criticized the Republican leader, who asserted that this working group has a "political and moral duty" to submit its conclusions to the Prosecutor's Office.

The sewers found nothing against Junqueras, who has also reported that his phone was tapped years before the 1-O vote and the Pegasus spying period. The ERC leader has stated that when he made a call, before the other party answered, he would hear a recording of his last conversation being played. In a kind of friendly, informal dialogue, the ERC spokesperson in Madrid, Gabriel Rufián, wanted the president of his party to recount his experience in prison. "I had the opportunity to meet many people from the PP," Junqueras wryly recalled, recounting that he taught history classes to figures such as the former treasurer of the conservative party, Luis Bárcenas, and former vice president of the Spanish government, Rodrigo Rato.

This morning, former Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias appeared before the commission of inquiry into Operation Catalunya in Congress. He is another victim of the dirty war against the Process. Months before the 2015 municipal elections, The World published that Trias had moved 12.9 million euros from Switzerland to a bank in Andorra, which was proven false. "I put myself in the head of a minister who speaks to his guardian angel and says, 'We have to get rid of this guy.' But it's not necessary to do it clumsily. It's an unprecedented approach, coming from people I was friends with. It hasn't been the case with Mr. Jorge Fernández Díaz [former Minister of the Interior]," Trias emphasized.

The former mayor of Barcelona has expressed surprise and sadness at the fact that the PP government promoted the maneuvers linked to the patriotic police. "I had an exquisite relationship with Mariano Rajoy," he noted. Trias made it clear that the dirty war was waged because "the mayor of Barcelona couldn't be allowed to support Catalan independence." "They can't stand that some of us defend the freedom of Catalonia, that Catalonia is a nation," he insisted. However, he warned that these practices could extend to other groups. "I've come to the conclusion that there's a certain agreement that 'we won't do it again, we've done it with the separatists...' But make no mistake, that's not against the separatists. It's a way of acting. When it's considered normal to use abnormal tools, they're making a mistake [...]. And I don't see the Attorney General intervening in any way," he said.

Trias announced on May 5 that he would file a complaint regarding Operation Catalunya, although those close to him are discouraging the idea if it doesn't come to fruition. patriotic policeThe judge found no "indications of a crime."The World who published that news in October 2014, but were acquitted because the judge determined that they were not responsible for an investigation conducted by the National Police that was apparently "serious and reliable."

The role of the common people

Trias doesn't trust a judicial response, nor does he trust that the person who attacked him will receive a pardon. The former ERC member admitted that he didn't lose the 2015 elections solely because of the false accusations, although he made it clear that "the Comuns have used this to their advantage. It's obvious." In this regard, he stated that it would be "nice" if former mayor Ada Colau apologized, but that hasn't happened. In fact, curiously, no representative of the Comuns appeared before the committee. "It embarrasses them," Trias said. Sources from En Comú Podem in Congress allege that their spokespersons, Aina Vidal and Gerardo Pisarello, had scheduling conflicts. In any case, ERC wanted to use the appearance to denounce how Ernest Maragall in 2019 and Trias in 2023 were deprived of the Barcelona mayoralty at different times due to a pact between the Comuns and the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the complicity of Manuel Valls first and then the PP. "All of Catalonia should know that," said Republican MP Pilar Vallugera.