The 'mossos' who killed the terrorists of 17-A sue the Government

The four agents of the Mossos d'Esquadra who killed the terrorists who perpetrated the jihadist attacks on August 17, 2017 in Barcelona and Cambrils (Tarragona) have taken the Generalitat to court.

The agents, who have been recognized as victims of terrorism and suffer psychological consequences of varying severity, have sued the Department of the Interior and claim global compensation of 1.2 million euros for the "damages" suffered.

The police officers have gone to court after the Interior has ignored their claim in administrative proceedings.

Two of the

were present at the attack on Cambrils, which occurred in the early hours of August 18, 2017, hours after the multiple hit on the Rambla in Barcelona.

The agent baptized as “the hero of Cambrils” killed four of the five members of the Ripoll cell who, after getting out of a car, headed towards him armed with axes and knives, shouting “

!”

He is the one who has had the worst time: he has left the body after obtaining total permanent disability.

the other

de Cambrils killed Omar Hichamy, the only one of the five jihadists who walked in the opposite direction along the promenade.

The other two policemen who file the lawsuit are the ones who jointly ended the life of Younes Abouyaaqoub, the author of the attack on La Rambla, whom they located four days later in an area of ​​vineyards in the Penedès.

The death of the material authors of 17-A prevented them from being judged and, consequently, from the ruling issued by the National High Court last year establishing some type of civil liability.

The three sentenced to between 8 and 53 and a half years in prison were members or collaborators of the cell -Driss Oukabir, Mohamed Houli, Said Ben Iazza-, but they did not carry out the attacks that left 16 dead and almost 300 injured in the worst Jihadist attack in Spain since 11-M.

The lawyer for the

, José Antonio Bitos (from the USPAC union) argues that the Generalitat must assume responsibility because the damages - days off, post-traumatic stress and other psychological sequels - were suffered in the act of service.

The lawsuit, which EL PAÍS has agreed to, is based on the principle of indemnity, which maintains that the Administration must "compensate" the agents who have suffered damages by third parties in the course of their work.

It is included in the Catalan police law of 1994 and also in a recent judgment of the Supreme Court, of 2020.

The four

who killed the Ripoll jihadists have been recognized by the Ministry of the Interior as victims of terrorism.

To justify the 1.2 million that he claims, the lawyer takes as a reference the sentence of the National High Court on the 11-M attacks.

That resolution concluded that acts of terrorism cause damage “greater than any other crime” and represent a “stigmatizing plus” for the victim.

And it set a compensation of a minimum of 30,000 euros that increases depending on certain requirements.

The 2011 law on comprehensive protection for victims of terrorism "limits the compensation" that the State is responsible for in the event of insolvency or death of the perpetrators: 500,000 euros for death or 300,000 for permanent disability absolute.

The lawsuit, however, clarifies that it does not request the responsibility of the State for all the victims, but instead appeals to the principle of indemnity for public officials in the exercise of their functions.

The claim in the administrative channel was filed in December, but the Generalitat did not answer in the three months that it has a deadline.

That "negative silence" has led the

to go to court.

The lawsuit has fallen to the contentious-administrative court number 4 of Barcelona.

In February 2022, the General Police Directorate of the Generalitat issued an instruction that recognizes the right of agents to be compensated for damages in the act of service.

The lawsuit regrets that claims for common crimes have already been resolved favorably and that, on the other hand, the request of the 17-A agents has "slept the sleep of the just."

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