The former head of the Mossos d'Esquadra in court: the police did not foresee Puigdemont's flight.

BarcelonaThe Mossos d'Esquadra did not foresee the possibility that former president Carles Puigdemont would flee after his speech at the Arc de Triomf on August 8 last year. They already said so in the Supreme Court, and this Monday the then head of the force, Eduard Sallent, reiterated before the judge that Puig's movement. Judicial sources, Sallent has admitted that he cannot rule out that the three officers investigated for helping Puigdemont flee were aware of the details of the operation that tried to arrest him. in an accusation of cover-up and failure to prosecute crimes. on the operation that day, in which the body's leadership already acknowledged that there had been "errors"According to the same sources, Sallent also told the judge that the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) did not speak with the National Police regarding border control on a day when the police activated a cage operation, which was insufficient to catch Puigdemont before he left Catalonia.

The document Sallent referred to did not convince Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, who did not see the "impediments" to arresting the Junts leader as sufficiently justified. However, Llarena ruled out from the outset that criminal liability could be attributed to former president Pere Aragonès; to the speaker of the Parliament, Josep Rull; or to the Mossos d'Esquadra leadership, as requested by Vox and Hazte Oír, which are now accusing the case. Since Llarena ruled out investigating any person with special jurisdiction, the case is being investigated in a Barcelona court and is directed against the three Mossos d'Esquadra officers who allegedly helped him escape.

A superintendent will testify in September.

In addition to Sallent, two superintendents of the force were also summoned to testify this Monday. The appearance of one of them, Carles Hernández, has been postponed until September. The second superintendent who was summoned, Ignasi Teixidó, testified for approximately twenty minutes and, like Sallent, ratified the report sent to the Supreme Court.

In May, four officers and a corporal testified before the investigating judge. They explained that after Puigdemont's escape, the Mossos d'Esquadra narrowed the investigation to three officers who allegedly helped him leave Catalonia after his speech at the Arc de Triomf. The five officers who testified then had been assigned the task of analyzing images of the three suspects for identification. Among other things, there were images of the vehicles and parking spaces used during the journey.