Vergés and Argimon did not "discriminate" against the police: the Prosecutor's Office withdraws from the accusation

BarcelonaThe Prosecutor's Office has withdrawn at the last moment the accusations against the former health officials who were accused of "discriminating" against National Police and Civil Guard officers in the covid vaccination plan. The accusation affected former ministers Alba Vergés and Josep Maria Argimon, former Secretary General of Health Marc Ramentol, former CatSalut director Adrià Comella, and former services director Xavier Rodríguez Guasch.

For their part, the police unions acting as popular accusers maintain the accusations for a crime of prevarication and request disqualification penalties of 15 years, more than the 12 initially requested by the prosecutor. However, the majority of unions in the case have withdrawn the accusations against Xavier Rodríguez Guasch, who was not accused by the Prosecutor's Office from the beginning. At the start of the trial, the unions had to withdraw, by decision of the Barcelona Court, the crime against workers' rights, which they also proposed, and which could have led to sentences of up to three years in prison.

In the conclusions phase this Monday, the defenses of the former health directors have reiterated their request for acquittal and have asked the court to order the police unions to pay the costs of the procedure. During his final report, the ex-minister's lawyer, Mariano Bergés, insisted, like the rest of the defenses, that what caused the police and civil guards to take longer than the Mossos d'Esquadra to be vaccinated was that they requested "a tailored vaccination," in their own facilities, and that they were slow to deliver the lists of officers to be vaccinated.

"Proud of what we did"

Vergés, Comella and Ramentol have used their right to the last word before the trial was submitted for sentencing. "I feel very proud of what we did, also my colleagues", Vergés said. "Very proud to have been able to serve my country in this way", she added. Both she and Ramentol valued that the trial served them to explain the work they did "and that epidemiological knowledge motivated the decisions", said the then Secretary General of Health.

"I can't believe I'm still in the room", Comella said in his turn. During his speech, he explained that his father died in 2024 knowing he was awaiting trial and that during the pandemic "he worked from 6 in the morning to 1 in the morning every day", and spent about 12 hours a week with his children. "No CatSalut director has had to respond, fortunately, to such an uncontrolled situation", he added.