POLICE officers involved in the violent scenes that marred Catalonia’s 2017 independence referendum are, for the first time, to face prosecution.
A court in Girona has ordered that 28 officers – 27 from Spain’s National Police and one from the Civil Guard – be tried over alleged incidents in a number of polling stations in the city itself and a nearby village.
Prosecutions have been ordered over “injuries” caused to potential voters, but not for claims of crimes against moral integrity or torture.
More than 1000 people needed medical attention as police across Catalonia were filmed beating unarmed voters, many of them elderly.
Meanwhile, Jordi Pujol, Catalonia’s longest serving president in modern times, and his family are to face trial for alleged corruption.
The National Court has confirmed that his son Jordi Pujol Ferrusola and his former wife Mercè Gironès will also be tried, along with 10 business people.
They have been accused of money laundering, tax offences, forging documents and unlawful assembly.
Bail was set at a €7.5 million (£6.4m) for Pujol’s son for a potential civil liability fine.
Pujol, now aged 90, is the longest-serving president in Catalonia’s democratic history, however his political legacy was tainted by subsequent corruption scandals.
He was first elected in 1980, subsequently re-elected five times and was in office until 2003, leading Catalonia through Spain’s democratic transition.
Pujol also founded the centre-right Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC), which was eventually dissolved following years of corruption scandals and ill-feelings caused by Catalan independence aspirations.
All the accused will remain at liberty in the meantime while their lawyers have been given a month to prepare their defence.
The National Court indicted Pujol and his relatives – including his wife and their seven children – although the charges against her was dropped for health reasons.
Prosecutors have called for a nine-year sentence for the former president, and 29 years for his eldest son.
They will push for sentences of between eight and 17 years for the other accused.
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