Positioning of entities
Òmnium Cultural, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Irídia have submitted a letter to the court of inquiry number 7 of Barcelona demanding that the amnesty not be applied in the cases of policemen who committed police violence during the referendum of the 1-O. The three entities present this brief in response to the request of the investigating judge who is investigating the 1-O policemen for rights violations, who has asked the parties in person to take a stand. Omnium and the ANC respond as a popular accusation and Irídia as a private one. In a joint statement, they warn that in the event that the amnesty is applied to them “they will go to the necessary authorities”.
Argumentation of the entities
The three organizations maintain that “the amnesty law cannot benefit those responsible for police brutality against citizens, as it is incompatible with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”. Òmnium, the ANC and Irídia argue that the acts of police violence exercised during the referendum must be outside the application of the law, since “they may represent crimes of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment, which exceed the threshold of seriousness in accordance with the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)”.
Claim of justice
The organizations take the opportunity to denounce that in seven years no trial has yet been held and “victims of police violence have not yet been able to access their right to justice, truth and reparation”. In the event that the amnesty ends up being applied in the cases of these policemen, they warn that they will resort to the necessary authorities “so as not to leave police violence unpunished”.
Positioning of the Prosecutor’s Office
For its part, the Prosecutor’s Office has asked for amnesty for the 46 National Police and Civil Guard officers accused of the charges on October 1. “The law expressly declares amnesty the actions carried out in the course of police actions aimed at preventing the carrying out of decisive acts of criminal or administrative responsibility such as those carried out in the framework of the consultation held in Catalonia on October 1, 2017, within the context of the so-called Catalan independence process”, he alleged in a press release last Wednesday. Òmnium, the ANC and Irídia reject the position of the Prosecutor’s Office and remark that they are not surprised by its position, since “it has asked for the postponement of the procedure since its inception, in 2017”.
