Spanish justice has released the former Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero after a trial in which he was accused of
“sedition”
during the 2017 secession attempt, a source learned Tuesday. judicial.
The Madrid court responsible for trying Josep Lluis Trapero and three former Catalan officials has decided
"the release of all the defendants, by two votes for and one vote against,"
said a judicial source.
Read also: Spain: the former Catalan police chief on the dock
The magistrates estimated that it was
"not shown that they were part of the plan to organize the referendum of October 1"
2017, according to the same source.
The prosecution had requested a ten-year prison sentence against Josep Lluis Trapero, accused of
"sedition".
The prosecution criticized the regional police for its
"total passivity"
in preventing the self-determination referendum of October 1, 2017 organized by the Catalan independence government and banned by the Spanish courts.
Charges rejected by Josep Lluis Trapero during the trial, which took place from January to June.
"I cannot accept that we are talking about passivity"
of the Mossos d'Esquadra, he had launched at the beginning of the trial, ensuring that he always
"did what (justice) ordered us".
The other defendants were two other officials from the police and the Catalan Interior Ministry, Pere Soler and César Puig, as well as Teresa Laplana, a police officer.
This referendum, punctuated by violence on the part of the national security forces, was followed less than a month later by a vain declaration of independence from the Catalan parliament which caused the worst political crisis experienced by Spain since the fall of Francoism in 1975.