Justice is searching for and capturing Dani Gallardo so that he can serve his sentence for the 'procés' riots

A protester throws wood to obstruct the AVE tracks during the protest against the 'procés' ruling in Barcelona.Toni Ferragut

The Madrid Court has agreed to search for and capture Dani Gallardo to serve a sentence for the riots during a protest against the sentence of the

in Madrid, in October 2019. On February 26, the court gave a period of three days for Gallardo to voluntarily enter prison.

The young man, 26 years old, has let that period pass, so the court has ordered the police to locate him so that he can be transferred to a penitentiary center.

The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has explained, in a statement, that the court's decision comes after Gallardo has been requested up to three times, without success, to enter prison voluntarily.

Gallardo “has not appeared on any of the three occasions” and “nor has he been located at the registered address.”

Upon being released after the trial, the activist moved to live in Montblanc (Tarragona), but now his whereabouts are unknown.

His entourage assures that “it will not make it easy” to locate him.

Gallardo is the first convicted of the

protests who will have to go to prison to serve his sentence, according to sources who know the status of the judicial cases related to those riots.

In October 2019, the Supreme Court condemned the political and social leaders of the 1-O referendum, which sparked a wave of protests, some violent.

Most of them had Catalonia as their setting, but there were also other Spanish cities such as Madrid.

Gallardo joined one of these mobilizations, held on October 16.

The young man, related to anarchist and anti-fascist circles, was arrested for causing damage and attacking riot police.

After spending more than a year in provisional prison, the Madrid Court tried him and sentenced him to four and a half years in prison for public disorder and attacks on authority.

The Supreme Court later slightly reduced the sentence to four years.

The sentence became final, and the defense's attempts to suspend the execution of the sentence were in vain.

In a last attempt, the lawyers argued that Gallardo would be one of the beneficiaries of the amnesty law being prepared by the Government.

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