Open war over the new lawyers of the Mossos d'Esquadra

BarcelonaThe creation of a specific sub-directorate within the General Directorate of Police to defend the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) has opened a Pandora's box for the Catalan government. The decision was implemented through an internal restructuring decree and stems from the desire of the Director of Police, Major Josep Lluís Trapero, to return the legal representation, defense, and advice of the Mossos to the purview of the Ministry of the Interior. This is a long-standing conflict: in 2021, the legal representation of the police was transferred to the Department of the Presidency because the government of Pere Aragonès considered some charges against pro-independence demonstrators to be too serious. Now, the lawyers will return to the Ministry of the Interior, but the measure has met with opposition from the Catalan Government's Bar Association, the Forum of Lawyers, which has challenged it before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and is demanding its immediate suspension. as it progressed The World

According to information obtained by ARA, the court has already admitted the appeal and will have to decide in the coming weeks whether to accept the precautionary suspension of the deployment of the sub-directorate, as demanded by the association. "There is a real and present risk that the execution of the challenged Decree will cause irreparable or very difficult-to-repair damage, both to the collective interests represented by the appellant entity and to the proper functioning of the Generalitat's legal services," the appeal, which ARA has accessed, warns.

Now, why is the Bar Association against this measure? The main argument is that the decree creates "new legal structures" within the General Directorate of the Police, which encroach upon those that the law exclusively attributes to the Generalitat's Legal Corps. Until now, the Mossos d'Esquadra's legal representation was handled by the legal department, which reports to the Presidency. That was the case since 2021, when the CUP claimed it from Pere Aragonès to invest him as president of the GeneralitatERC capitulated, and the twenty or so lawyers handling the Mossos d'Esquadra cases were transferred to the Presidency: "It is from there that a better defense of public employees can be mounted, and it will be guaranteed that they receive support throughout the entire process," argued the then Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena.

The requests for sentences

In practice, the restructuring of the Mossos d'Esquadra's legal defense could have consequences for the positions the Catalan government defends in cases where it acts as the prosecution. Sources within the Catalan Bar Association indicate that this change could lead to harsher sentences being sought for protesters brought to trial, with requests more aligned with the officers' interests and less with the principle of proportionality. The association also argues that the new decree does not represent a return to the previous situation: firstly, because it creates a sub-directorate general (previously, it was a specialized unit), and secondly, because the wording of the decree does not explicitly recognize, as it did before, that its personnel will carry out their "functions." This is the body responsible for the defense of Catalan government employees, whether they are doctors, teachers, or administrative staff. Furthermore, this adds insult to injury: the association sees this move as another step towards "disintegrating" the legal services, following the Catalan government's agreement "to allow the hiring of private law firms to defend high-ranking officials." In other words, previously the lawyers reported to the Ministry of the Interior, but organizationally to the central legal office (Presidency), and now they will report directly to the police directorate. Providing criminal and administrative advice to the Directorate General of the Police—for example, regarding the drafting of bills—would also fall to the Deputy Directorate of the Police, another function "reserved" by law for the Legal Corps. For all these reasons, the association urges the court to act urgently, given that job postings for the new deputy directorate have already begun. "All of this constitutes a far-reaching structural change that, if fully implemented, will create entrenched situations that will be very difficult to reverse," they warn.

Interior Ministry defends the model

From the Interior Ministry, however, they emphasize the merits of the model and, setting aside the fine print, point out that this was already how it worked before Aragonès's term. Sources within the department argue that it will allow officers to have access to in-house lawyers, but with greater specialization. Until now, when an officer disagreed with the strategy offered by the Generalitat (Catalan government), they ended up resorting to their union's lawyers. According to the same sources, the return to the previous model has been "agreed upon" with the legal department, with only the sector represented by the Foro de Abogacía (Lawyers' Forum) opposing it. There is no unanimity among police unions regarding this measure. Fepol (the Catalan Police Federation) says they welcome the relocation. "It's back where it should be. We support it," says their spokesperson, Toni Castejón. The union itself criticizes the fact that in the previous administration, there had been "political manipulation" regarding when a Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police officer) could and could not be defended. However, the USPAC union does not approve of the relocation. Firstly, they criticize the measure as further consolidating Trapero's power as director. Furthermore, Albert Palacio, their spokesperson, warns of the risks of having a legal team reporting to the same body (the police leadership) as the Mossos d'Esquadra's Internal Affairs division, which investigates officer misconduct. They argue this situation is incompatible because independence between the two bodies should be guaranteed.