Roger Español: "My face tells the story of the police violence of October 1st"

BarcelonaRoger Español (Tarragona, 1974) was one of the thousands of activists who, on October 1, 2017, defended the ballot boxes and polling stations where the independence referendum was being held. He suffered the worst of it, when one of the rubber bullets that the National Police fired in Barcelona emptied his right eye. Today, nine years later, he is still seeking justice and has brought four of the police officers who participated in those charges to the defendant's bench, including the riot police officer who shot him. They will be the only agents tried for the police violence of October 1st.

What does he hope to achieve with this trial?

— In Catalonia, there were more than a hundred accusations against police officers for their violence and brutality that day, and in the end only four will be able to be tried. So, we must move forward and reach the end.

Most police officers have benefited from the amnesty law.

— My position is completely contrary to the amnesty because, in the Spanish state, it is always synonymous with impunity. We want to achieve a minimum of reparation, justice and recognition of the State violence that we experienced in those days. Not only for me.

What happens if the police officers are finally acquitted? The Public Prosecutor's Office does not accuse them.

— Police impunity is almost always present when it comes to the Spanish justice system. That October 1st, 17 rubber bullets were fired in the Sardenya street section, at a moment when the police only had to retreat, get into the vans, and leave. One of the complications we have in this trial, to prevent these police officers from ending up amnestied, is that we have to demonstrate that there was an intentionality to want to harm me as a person and not the crowd to disperse it, as they claim.

You stated at the trial that they wanted to punish you and the police witnesses said that they feared for their physical integrity.

— All the police officers have been saying the same thing, they have even gone as far as pulling the ETA card and talking about looks of hatred. They greatly exaggerate the situation to have a reason that allows them to justify all that violence. I was trying to protect the schools, not just Ramon Llull. The intention was always to peacefully obstruct any movement of vans to make it difficult for them to go and trash schools elsewhere.

And why did they shoot?

— I was shot from a distance of 14 metres and another boy, who dodged the shot, from 10 metres. It was neither the right moment nor did they follow their own protocols. There was not enough distance to fire rubber bullets and their physical integrity was not in danger. In the moments before, when we were sitting on the ground to block the passage of the vans, instead of removing us peacefully, they started using their batons. From then on, we tried to put fences in the middle of the street so the vans would not advance. At a certain point, an officer left the police cordon to come and hit me with a baton and ended up losing the baton. I tried to prevent him from being able to grab it again and I believe all these rubber bullets and the excessive violence in the final stretch were a reprisal.

Who do you think is primarily responsible for what happened to you?

— During these nine years I have learned many things, and one is how the police work. And I have been able to learn that no matter how much a superior gives you the order, if you are a riot police officer, you have the final say to decide if it is the right moment or if there is the right distance. Therefore, the maximum responsibility always lies with the riot police officer. Now, regarding the whole situation that occurred at that moment, the ones responsible are the heads of the police force that were there or the highest superiors who were there, who validated all this violence.

Has anyone apologized to you or offered you any agreement in exchange for dropping the lawsuit?

— Neither the police nor any ministry have called me. And from the very beginning I told my lawyers that I did not want to know anything about any agreement to avoid the trial.

Beyond the judicial conviction you seek, do you believe the Spanish government should apologize?

— At the very least there should be recognition. If there has been a change of government, this government could perfectly well say that the previous government was wrong in the October 1st operation, that it was not the way. Personally, it would not be of much use to me, but if they really want to make a change with respect to Mariano Rajoy's government, this would be an important step. They have not done so; therefore, this means that the DNA of the Spanish state remains the same, a repressive DNA against independence movements or anything that is different from Castilian and what is Spanish.

The independence movement is also now in a new phase with the amnesty law. Has anyone from that space asked you to drop the lawsuit?

— On the part of the independence movement, especially from the social side of the street, from civil society and the organizations, I have felt very accompanied. And on the part of the politicians, they have never said anything to me about trying to add the case to the amnesty and for it to be dampened.

Why did he return the Creu de Sant Jordi that the Pere Aragonès government awarded him?

— I believe that since October 1st many renunciations have been made that have pushed back all that strength we had, which have demobilized the people. Luckily, this last September 11th I have been able to see an upturn, especially on the part of young people.

The trial is also intended to be used to denounce the continued use of rubber bullets, which Parliament prohibited the Mossos from using since 2014.

— In these nine years I have met Esther Quintana and Carles Guillot [both lost an eye in the 2000s] and I have joined their association Stop Rubber Bullets. And this trial is very important, because images of the misuse that is made of them can be seen. I hope it will be a very important step towards the total ban of this type of projectiles and also of foam bullets.

How has all this fight to reach trial been financed over nine years?

— I have been lucky enough to have the support of the Iridia group, which is a group of lawyers and psychosocial support, who have been accompanying me and have carried out all the investigation, all the expert reports to discover who the riot police officer was and who his superior officers were. To try to compensate for all this expense, we have opened a page [justiciaroger.cat], where you can sign a manifesto of support, where we are organizing concerts and various events. And there is also a crowdfunding. When the 35,000 euros are reached, we will make public a song that I have written, titled Més de mil, dedicated to the more than a thousand people who were injured on October 1st, but also to the more than a thousand people that during these nine years I have been meeting, reconnecting with and getting to know, who have helped me to keep going.

If you do not win the trial, you could end up without any financial compensation.

— This would be the worst-case scenario of all. Then there are other scenarios. There is another one that is like saying that those police officers acted wrongly and that, therefore, the State is held responsible for it. Then, yes, there would only be financial compensation and perhaps some of those minor sanctions for the police officers. And the best of the scenarios is the accusation that we are making, in which we are requesting 13 years in prison and the court costs and reparation.

How has your life changed in these 9 years?

— Totally. Not everything was due to the wound, but it certainly was a turning point. At that moment I was studying the third year of the conservatory, the higher cycle, and I had little left to finish. Just after October 1st came the degree exams and, therefore, I could not take them. And in the end, between one thing and another, I ended up leaving my music studies. Then came the pandemic, many musical projects I was involved in fell through and, in the end, due to financial obligations, I had to look for another job that would give me some stability. Therefore, starting from October 1st, the decline of my life as I had it set up began and I have had to fend for myself.

And physically, what are the sequelae?

— Obviously, there is an issue of self-confidence when your face changes in this way and you are left with one eye. For example, when interacting socially with people, there is always a bit of self-distrust. Then, regarding the physical aspect, when it comes to calculating distances, eating, going down stairs, when there is little light I find it very difficult to distinguish objects, and when there is too much light I get blinded very quickly. Regarding leisure, I used to like playing ping-pong and now it is more complicated. On public transport, when there are many people, you enter a state of hyper-alertness, the carriages move a lot as well as the people around you, and it causes a bit of anxiety.

From the beginning, he chose to show the wound and not hide it. Was it hard for him to decide?

— No, the truth is that no. Furthermore, at the beginning, after October 1st, the political atmosphere was still very heated and it was worth it. I always say the same thing, this face tells a story. As long as the trial is ongoing, I need people to see me and recognize this face as the events of October 1st. Furthermore, physically, getting a prosthesis implies undergoing an operation to remove what remains of my eye and the results of the prosthesis do not quite convince me. For now, this is what the Spanish state did to me; so this is what I want to show.

The last session of the trial will be precisely on October 1st.

— I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but with justice there are few coincidences. We are calling for a gathering at 8:45 this October 1st so that people can accompany me on the last day of the trial.

His judgment has also highlighted a major problem with translations into Catalan.

— It was a disgrace. When a long trial was expected with the testimony of 50 officers, they gave us those translators and everything went wrong from the first question. But this problem with the translations, which must be denounced, happened yesterday, happens today, and will happen tomorrow, and the substance of my trial is different from the defense of Catalan in the justice system; it is about the violence of October 1st.

Do you think there has been an attempt to divert the focus of attention? It is the Generalitat that is in charge of managing the company that does the translations and it has already opened a disciplinary proceeding.

— It was so scandalous that it even seems done on purpose. That very day they brought the least prepared people. The quality control performed by this translation company is not correct. I don't think a simple sanction for the company will be of much use.