Roger Español says that they shot him "as a reprisal" and asks for a conviction that is "a reparation for 1-O"
Explain to the court that he did not know that the officers were using rubber bullets until he received the impact
BarcelonaSeven years after the police charges of 1-O, Roger Español has explained how and when a rubber bullet mutilated his eye. His testimony was the first in the trial of four police officers who face up to 13 years in prison for this injury to the pro-independence activist. Español explained that until he received the impact to his face, he did not realize that the officers were using rubber bullets, even though he had heard shots. A while earlier, he had received a baton strike from an officer who was dispersing a crowd, and he believes the shot was "a reprisal" for having thrown a fence after the blow. "I hope a guilty verdict serves for all those people who could not have recognition, justice, or reparation for October 1st, and also so that it takes a step forward in the prohibition once and for all of these cursed rubber bullets," he said before entering the trial.
Once in the courtroom, Español explained that he left home alone to go to the Ramon Llull School, his polling station, from where the police were taking away the ballot boxes. He decided to approach other schools in his neighborhood, and at the intersection of Sardenya and Diputació streets, he found about 40 people sitting on the roadway to prevent the police from passing, and he joined them. When the police dispersed them, Español received a baton strike to his thigh, and he said that, due to the frustration of the moment, he kicked a fence to try to block the path of a van. The fence ended up hitting a police officer. In fact, the Prosecutor's Office wanted Español to be tried for assault against the officer, but a judge dismissed it.
After that, Español continued walking along Sardenya street in the direction of his home, and the officers who were withdrawing were also walking, with their backs to him. Español said that he was walking near a group of journalists, identified with orange vests, because it seemed "safer" to him.
"I thought they were blanks"
Although he had heard shots, he did not know that the officers were using rubber bullets. "I thought what they were firing were blanks, I had the case of Esther Quintana and the resolution of the ban on rubber bullets in Catalonia very much in mind," he said. It was during this journey that he received the impact of the rubber bullet to the face that knocked him to the ground: "At that moment I did not understand it, until I felt the pain and saw the blood, I saw that it could only have been a rubber bullet".
Once on the ground, he found himself surrounded by journalists and other people who put him in a doorway. A first ambulance treated him at the same spot, and then another ambulance took him to the hospital. He was admitted to the Sant Pau hospital for nine days, and the physical injuries also caused him to lose sensitivity in his teeth, meaning he could no longer continue working professionally with the saxophone, both offering concerts and private lessons. Español explained that the mutilation of his eye also made him lose his confidence when going on stage or standing in front of students, which has also affected his social life, and that even now he is still undergoing psychological treatment for the physical aftereffects. The private prosecution has requested compensation of 320,632 euros from the police and the Spanish government.
The four police officers sitting in the dock are the only ones who will be tried for the charges of the 1st of October. Throughout the hearing, an interpreter has translated into Spanish what the different witnesses have declared. Español, represented by the lawyer Benet Salellas, asks the court to sentence the officers to thirteen years in prison. The popular accusations of Irídia, with the lawyer Ton Mansilla, the ANC, with Esther Palmes, and Òmnium Cultural, with Laia Serra, who was also Esther Quintana's lawyer, are also asking for their conviction. The officers are defended by the State Attorney's Office, which is requesting acquittal, as is the Public Prosecutor's Office, which considers that they were carrying out their duty.