Baena's second in command describes Jové, the Mossos, ANC and Òmnium as the architects of a rebellion

The secretary of the Guardia Civil reports of September and October 2017, commander TIP number N29100C, opened the tenth week of the Catalan independence trial by describing the secretary-general of the Economy, Josep Maria Jové, the Mossos d'Esquadra and ANC and Òmnium as the architects of the independence process in a session in which the EnfoCATs document and the Moleskine agenda that were found during the search of Jové's home have taken centre stage. It is precisely these two documents that have acted as the basis for the prosecution's charges of rebellion in this trial.

EnfoCATs and Jové's Moleskine

Lieutenant-colonel Daniel Baena's right-hand man, the head of the judiciary police in Catalonia and the investigating official in charge of the investigation of the Catalan independence process, has described the EnfoCATs document as being strategic and the Moleskine notebook as being executive. According to this Guardia Civil officer, the document described the steps to be followed up until the declaration of independence.  

"Enfocats is a strategic document and the Moleskine agenda is an executive document. We have dated Enfocats to the second semester of 2016. This document is chiefly based on three actions: political action, citizen participation action, and communications action. These are the three axes on which the entire document is based. There is, however, a development of each possible scenario."

In these documents, state structures such as "the Mossos d'Esquadra, the CTTI, the Communications and Technology Centre of Catalonia, as well as certain state structures that were in development, such as a tax administration and social security system", he stated.

According to the explanations of lieutenant-colonel Daniel Baena's former right-hand man, the Moleskine agenda contained an analysis of the viability of the referendum, always as a previous step to a declaration of independence.

"In the development of the agenda seized from mister Jové there is an analysis of the viability, of the possibility to hold a referendum, or a unilateral referendum for independence. The referendum was always a previous step to a declaration of independence, as it ultimately happened."

 

Jové becomes one of the key points in the Guàrdia Civil's investigation

According to the commander in charge of the reports related to 1-O and 20S, Jové had become one of the key points in his investigation: he was the one in charge of authorising any expenses for the referendum.

"What we saw was that mister Jové, who ultimately became one of the key points in our investigation, was made the person in charge of procedures. For that purpose it was necessary to pass two decrees."

The Guardia Civil commander also said that there was coordination between the government, civic organisations and the Parliament, according to the notes in the Moleskine.

"They are both civic organisations with different aims. Their main purpose was citizen mobilisation. In this regard, within ANC and Òmnium, it is important to point out a meeting known as the "last chance". This meeting was held on 7 January 2016. Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart were present in this meeting, and this is relevant because the entire government was present - mister Junqueras, mister Romeva, if I recall correctly, mister Turull and some other people - and, in this meeting, the next president of the Catalan government was decided, as well as how the ministries would be allotted: how many would be for the group from ERC and for the group from CiU. The presidents of ANC and Òmnium cultural were present. And I say this is important because it was held in the headquarters of the ANC itself."

With regard to the EnfoCATs document, lieutenant-colonel Daniel Baena's right-hand man explained that the document included an analysis of the organisation with a directive group and an executive group. The ANC was featured within the directive group:

"A directive group and an executive group. This directive group, according to the document, was made up from the president, the vice-president, people in charge of civic associations... And the executive group featured ministers, secretary-generals and, on occasion, experts in certain fields in the event that they required an expert in intelligence techniques."

Answering questions from Anna Bernaola, Jordi Sànchez's defence counsel, he did admit that he was not aware that the Jordi Sànchez's name appeared in the document or that any copies of it were sent to him, or that he had a copy of the same, as well as of the fact that the ANC roadmaps "referred to peaceful social mobilisation."

"The EnfoCATs document does not quote Mr Sànchez literally. I am also unaware of whether or not he participated in its drafting."

 

Forcadell, "the channel to pass those laws."

With regard to the Parliament, among the meetings that took place, he highlighted that of former speaker of Parliament Carme Forcadell because, according to him, she was "the channel required to pass" the 54 decree-laws to create the Republic and that were to be implemented on 2 October.

"There are a number of negotiation meetings to discuss how negotiations could evolve, such as the meeting in the Casa dels Canonges on 30 August 2016, in which the need to legislate or a double legislation model was discussed. I do not know if Forcadell attended this meeting or the next one. I state that it is important for her to attend it because she was the channel required to pass these laws."

To this structure lieutenant-colonel Baena's right-hand man added one more pillar, namely the Mossos, which he concretised in Major Trapero. He justified this with a letter from Cèsar Puig to Joaquim Forn during the preparations for 1 October.

 

Trapero, "essential for the pro-independence strategy"

To this structure lieutenant-colonel Baena's right-hand man added one more pillar, namely the Mossos and, specifically, Major Josep Lluís Trapero, who he described as "essential for the pro-independence strategy." He justified this with a letter from Cèsar Puig to Joaquim Forn during the preparations for 1 October.

"The figure of Major Trapero is essential for the pro-independence strategy. There is an email message from the 23rd at 9:26 PM in which mister César Puig made a number of comments to mister Forn, in which he told him that, due to investigation case number 4, mister Trapero would have to coordinate with the attorney-general and the coordinator."

 

Related interactive resource: The keys of the Catalan independence trial

 

Action guidelines on 1-O

With regard to the Mossos, the secretary in charge of the reports for 1-O also stated that former president Carles Puigdemont or former minister of the Interior Joaquim Forn did not provide any formal guidelines to assist the celebration of the 1-O referendum, but there were thirty or so "action guidelines."

"Formally, there were none. However, on the 29th, minister Form, at least, was provided with guidelines for action that were implemented on 1 October by mister Trapero. These action guidelines incluse the use of violence in actions, the coordination system and, finally, actions in which it is decided when the Mossos would not act: when there were vulnerable people, when gatherings were peaceful, or if gatherings were very violent."

It is here that, when answering questions from the prosecution, the Guardia Civil commander stated that an email from Jordi Cuixart "discussed bringing vulnerable people to vote on 1 October." He was questioned on this statement by Cuixart's defence counsel, Benet Salellas:

"Salellas: Do you remember email 17 from Jordi Cuixart? Where does it mention children, the elderly or vulnerable people?

Commander N29100C: The email message was not sent by mister Jordi Cuixart, it was sent to him. That is the first point. It was sent to him by one Iolanda. I have quoted this email message. The analysis of the conclusions of the email number it is written: "this refers to children and elderly people."

Salellas: I am not discussing the person who analyses it.

Commander N29100C:  We put that in the report as a note to say "Pay attention. This is relevant."

Salellas: The court will decide on what is or is not relevant, however you stated that this expression refers to point 6 in the message. That is what it says: "must we ensure that there will be people of all ages?" Is this what makes you deduce that they want vulnerable people in the polling stations?

Commander N29100C: I have said this with regard to the report of the Mossos d'Esquadra in which it is stated that they would not act in these cases: vulnerable people, peaceful gatherings or... significant gatherings that could give rise to public safety issues.

Salellas: Could it be that the email to a person called Iolanda, who sent it to mister Cuixart, does not refer to vulnerable people, children or the elderly?

Commander N29100C: That may be. That may be, but it said people of all ages. If I had the document at hand I could tell you."

 

Marchena interrupts the commander when he speaks of synergies between Puigdemont and Trapero

Baena's right-hand man went so far as to talk about synergies between Puigdemont and Trapero, when the defence counsels protested and Marchena interrupted him.

"Attorney Fidel Cadena: Were there email exchanges between Trapero and Puigdemont?

Commander N29100C: Not directly. There is a draft of a letter on 20 October in which he tells his own secretary to notify mister Trapero. In fact, he says: 'prepare the letter so that I may sign it.' It has three or four paragraphs. First he thanks him for his actions, for how all actions were carried out, and for his position as Major of the corps. The synergy, the collusion between the two is apparent.

Marchena: Avoid making appraisals with statement son synergies that can only be assessed, if appropriate, by the Court."

The unilateral declaration of independence as the only option one year prior to the referendum

The Guardia Civil commander has also stated that pro-independence politicians already deemed unilateralism as the only option one year before the referendum:

"There were a number of meetings. The ones I deem to be interesting are the ones in which unilateralism is discussed. This is a meeting from June 2016, which was attended by Marta Rovira, mister Junqueras, mister Romeva, mister Mas and mister Turull. Here they say that the only option left is unilateralism."

Before that, however, he stated that initially only a referendum agreed upon with the State was being considered:

"It is true that, initially, a unilateral referendum was not considered. It was initially put forward as a referendum agreed upon with the state. It evolved subsequently. Keep in mind that mister Jové's agenda begins in February 2015 and ends in early 2017."

 

War and insurgency scenarios

On the other hand, answering questions from prosecutor Fidel Cadena, he explained the scenarios that were presumably described in the confiscated documents, including war or insurgency and the implementation of a Catalan army.

"The war and insurgency scenario is geared towards a possible scenario or scenarios that could arise from a conflict, from an exit that was not negotiated with the State with regard to funding lines for the state. In this part it discusses the steps to take into account, how the autonomous region, that would have become a state, could finance itself, from where it could obtain funds. It discussed foreign options, it discussed requesting loans at the international level...".  

 

The commander admitted to having investigated the CDRs:

"We investigated the CDRs. They are groups for the defence of the referendum, in principle. We have dated them to June 2017. We can corroborate three meetings. From that point onwards we saw that their composition was uneven. They contained people from different ideologies, different organisations... It is structured on three levels: at the local level, at the territorial level, and at the central level. In fact, the central node of the organisation of the Catalunya CDR."