The police officers in the Roger Español case hide behind "extreme gravity", distance and ricochet to avoid prison

BarcelonaJudicial timing had willed that the final session of the trial against the national police officers who emptied the eye of the activist Roger Español would be held on an October 1st, nine years after the day of the referendum in which the pro-independence activist was mutilated. In this Thursday's session—awaiting the resumption in the afternoon—the inspector responsible for the operation and a sub-inspector have already testified, while in the afternoon another sub-inspector and the riot gunner who shot Español will do so. For now, the strategy is very clear and both agents have reproduced it this way: shielding themselves with the "extreme gravity" of the October 1st situation due to the "throwing of cobblestones, sticks" and other objects; defending that the distance from which the shots were fired was appropriate, around 15 meters—it was 14 in the shot that caused the mutilation—; and that they were fired "with a bounce" as the protocol dictates, including the one that emptied the activist's eye.

A concatenation of elements to avoid prison, given that the private prosecutions are requesting sentences of up to 13 years. Especially because an act of negligence could lead to a conviction, but could avoid prison by being covered by the amnesty. It is necessary to prove the intentionality and the cruelty against Español, and so far the agents have made it clear that "one cannot train" for shots with a bounce. The defense's thesis is that a previous incident would have triggered the desire to teach him a lesson.

And yet another element, which in this case harms the riot gunner and benefits the account of the other three higher-ranking defendants: according to Inspector Ángel Diego Vaquera—number 73861—, general orders to fire do not mean they must be executed because there is the "capacity to decide not to fire" on the part of each riot gunner depending on the context, "in case of doubt" and taking into account the "principle of minimum intervention".

Grotesque beginning

Be that as it may, there have been several plot twists: the session was suspended around eleven o'clock because the inspector himself had alleged "a health problem" that had "forced him to move to a hospital center" to undergo "tests", according to his defense; and at one o'clock it resumed with the patient in the room with the aim of finishing the judicial session as planned.

The judge had demanded "proof" from the defense, which the court examined and understood the absence as "justified": the accused went to the Sagrada Família clinic, to the emergency department, due to health problems related to "arterial hypertension and he had to undergo tests at the hospital center". His discharge at 11:20 a.m., however, allowed him to arrive at the Palace of Justice. At one o'clock, however, the session allowed for the viewing of a video of the mutilation incident, before moving on to the statements, the main event.

The magistrate, moreover, had declared in the morning his intention to resume the session this very Thursday. The session began more than half an hour late with respect to the scheduled time and without Español's prosecution knowing why. The delay was caused by the inspector's no-show, but the activist's lawyers were unaware of it, something the judge himself reproached the State Attorney's Office for, which is in the eye of the storm of criticism. Lawyer Benet Salellas had even requested a search and arrest warrant to detain him immediately, but he finally came motu proprio.

The judge was understanding of his words, which, de facto, ended up pointing at the State Attorney's Office for not having communicated anything to the prosecution: "He understands and shares them, the court delayed it because it knew the circumstance," he said. In any case, he noted that "there is no reason to question the information that has been transmitted to him regarding the health problems" of the inspector.

Controversial statement

Among the accused are the inspector in question, who is the head of the unit, the sub-inspector, another sub-inspector from the area, and the shotgunner who fired at Roger Español. In this Wednesday's session, the expert testimony from the Mossos also clarified that the shotgunner is the one who fired at Español. For the first time, it was established without any of the parties questioning it. The Mossos confirmed that this shotgunner used the weapon in the direction of the area where Roger was up to three times. The weapons experts from Omega explained that the way of firing could cause the ricochet to rise and reach such delicate areas as the head.

It is true, however, that the Mossos reported that the Spanish police officer did not aim directly at Roger Español, but for Irídia and the activist's defense, this circumstance and the ricochet effect of the projectile do not prevent confirming the brutality of the action that 1-O. This is the only case of police violence during the referendum that is being tried without the amnesty having been applied to the officers due to the gravity of the events. 97% of the police officers have received the grace of the penal oblivion law of the 'Procés'.