The court rules out granting amnesty to the police officers who gouged out Roger Español's eye on October 1st.

BarcelonaThe Barcelona Court has sent to trial the four National Police officers prosecuted for a crime of assault in the operation on October 1st in which Roger Español lost an eye due to the impact of a rubber bullet. The court has concluded that the injuries during the charges at the Escola Ramon Llull in Barcelona are not covered by the amnesty law and, instead, it does apply to Español, who was accused of a crime of attacking the officers.

In an order that has advanced The Country and has been able to consult the ARA (Argentine National Assembly), the judges argue that police officers should be excluded from the amnesty, citing the article in the law that excludes intentional acts, or acts not due to negligence, that have resulted in the loss or uselessness of an organ or limb. While the amnesty law also covers police officers, it expressly excludes cases where injuries of this severity have occurred.

The accused shotgunner fired up to three times toward the location where Español was, 14 meters away. The third rubber bullet was the one that caused the injury that caused him to lose his eye. The judges consider that the repetition of the features makes it a malicious (intentional) act. They also apply the same criteria to the inspector and the two sub-inspectors prosecuted because they were the ones who authorized, ordered and allowed the use of rubber bullets at a time when "it was not appropriate, necessary or pertinent at a clearly dangerous distance, and thus assuming the possibility of serious injuries occurring as actually happened."

The other charges are amnestied.

In addition to firing rubber bullets, on October 1, 2017, the National Police also used batons to attack people sitting on the ground to prevent officers from entering the Ramon Llull School. These charges will be amnestied, which constitutes the "negative note" of the resolution published this Wednesday, according to the assessment made by Anaïs Franquesa, a lawyer for Español and co-director of Irídia.

Both Irídia and Òmnium and the ANC, which also appeared as prosecutors in the case, requested that these charges be considered torture or degrading treatment, which is also a crime excluded from the amnesty. However, according to the judges, the charges did not exceed "the threshold of severity" established by law to constitute a crime—except in one case of minor injuries—and they added that they were in response to the court order to close the school. Therefore, the court rules out considering that a crime of torture occurred, of which they were also accused and which would have left them without amnesty, because it is also one of the excluded cases.

On trial for firing rubber bullets

Thus, the judicial proceedings against the four police officers will continue solely for the crime of injuries caused by firing rubber bullets. For Español, however, it is ruled that the charges for allegedly throwing cones and barriers at the officers are covered by the amnesty. Therefore, the court has dismissed the case against him, in which he was accused of assaulting the police.

Once the Barcelona Court's ruling was announced, Òmnium welcomed the court's refusal to amnesty the officers investigated for the injury to Roger Español because they consider it a "reward for persistence," according to Xavier Antich. The president of the cultural entity believes that the ruling "recognizes that police officers who used violence during the referendum cannot be amnestied": "The amnesty can in no way benefit those who may have committed human rights violations," he added. In contrast, the police union Jupol has called the decision to exclude the officers from the amnesty a "comparative grievance." They have also argued that "there is no conclusive evidence" that they were responsible for the irreversible injury suffered by Español, and have called on the Ministry of the Interior and the General Directorate of Police to publicly take a position in their favor.