The court has annulled the dismissal of Toni Rodríguez as head of investigation for the Mossos d'Esquadra and ordered his reinstatement.
The administrative litigation concludes that there was a lack of motivation to send him to the Rubí police station.
BarcelonaJustice has struck down The dismissal of the Mossos d'Esquadra superintendent Toni Rodríguez as head of criminal investigation of the police and has ordered his reinstatement. As SER Catalunya has reported and ARA has been able to confirm, the 11th Administrative Court of Barcelona is also requesting that he receive the salary he has stopped receiving since 2021, when the new Interior Ministry leadership, headed by Minister Joan Ignasi Elena, appointed him head of the Rubi Criminal Police Station.
"In the case at hand, the reasons of opportunity that may support the lack of trust or suitability that were appreciated at the beginning of his appointment to the position he held, nor the reasons that support the decision to assign him new duties, are not made explicit. Nor is it known whether his powers and/or ineptitude to undertake them have been modified, so that it can be concluded under what circumstances his aptitude for the performance of the assigned duties has been modified. For all these reasons, it is necessary to estimate the claim filed, annulling the two contested resolutions," concludes the sentence.
"Misuse of power"
The Interior Ministry's move to send Rodríguez to Rubí came shortly after the dismissal of the Mossos d'Esquadra chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, as head of the force. The superintendent ended up taking this change of assignment to court, which has now ruled in his favor. Rodríguez claimed that he was "demoted" for no reason and pointed to Eduard Sallent, until recently head of the force, stating that in his capacity as chief commissioner—he served as such while Trapero faced trial in the National Court for the referendum—he requested information on the case involving the then Interior Minister, Mi. This involved the investigation into the JxCat politician for having hired former President Carles Puigdemont's bodyguard as an advisor.
At the time, the superintendent dismissed the decision as arbitrary, calling it an "abuse of power" and asserting that it was prompted by his refusal to provide information on corruption cases affecting the post-convergence context. The court does not now assess the existence of these alleged interferences and simply states that the decision to dismiss him was not sufficiently reasoned and, therefore, revokes it.
New position in the leadership
With the arrival of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) to the Catalan government a year ago, the Interior Ministry passed to Núria Parlon, and Josep Lluís Trapero assumed political leadership of the Mossos d'Esquadra as the new police director. The new command was made up of Commissioner Miquel Esquius as head of the force, and Rodríguez was relocated to this position. Since then, the superintendent has played a key role in the Catalan police's strategic projects, such as the development of the Kanpai plan, designed to end repeated offenses in Catalonia.
