Castellví: "The Guardia Civil and the Policía Nacional knew that there would be passive resistance on 1-O"

Former inspector Manel Castellví returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to answer questions from the defence counsels of the 12 accused parties. His first witness statement last Thursday stood out due to the tense interrogation to which he was subjected by prosecutor Javier Zaragoza. 

Castellví then stated that he had warned the Catalan government of an "escalation of violence" over the 1 October referendum. He nuanced this statement on Monday, stating that the expectation that this would happen was wrong.

Forn made no changes to the Catalan police

The sitting began shortly after half past nine in the morning with the interrogation of the defence counsel of Joaquim Forn, Xavier Melero.

The attorney asked Castellví is Forn carried out any changes in positions or lines of action in the department or in the Catalan police when he took office in July 2017, to which Castellví answered that he did not.

According to the witness, he met with the people in charge of the Guardia Civil and the Policía Nacional in Catalonia on 28 September.

Xavier Melero, in front of Joaquim Forn, interrogating former inspector Manel Castellví on Monday

"Passive resistance" in schools

During the meeting, the three police forces agreed that they would be faced with "passive resistance" in the schools, but that neither the intelligence services of the Guardia Civil, those of the Policía Nacional or those of the Catalan police expected "acts of violence".

Castellví admitted that the prosecution found the Catalan police's plan for 1-O to be "insufficient", and he deemed that this insufficiency was due to the number of agents deployed, which was increased.

The former inspector also stated that, during previous days, the Catalan police had visited "all the schools" and did not find any preparations for the referendum:

"In any event, if the question is related to whether or not it was possible to close down the entire school, which was not the magistrate's order, the answer is no."

 

There was no pressure from Joaquim Forn

When questioned by Melero, Castellví admitted with single words that there was no pressure from the Catalan government to change the expected operation:

Xavier Melero: "Did the attitude of the Catalan government put forward the need to modify the action plan you had designed? "

Manel Castellví: "No."

Xavier Melero: "Did any of you consider resigning?"

Manel Castellví: "No."

 

Marina Roig, the defence counsel of Jordi Cuixart, questioning former inspector Manel Castellví in the Supreme Court

 

The ANC and Òmnium, "interlocutors" due to their non-violent attitude

With regard to the attitude of the leaders of ANC and Òmnium, when questioned by Marina Roig, the defence counsel of Jordi Cuixart, Castellví praised their defence of "the slogan of non-violence":

Manel Castellví: "The ANC and Òmnium have always been entities that have called a great many mass demonstrations that have always been held under the slogan of non-violence. They have never had any problems, and we deem them to be our interlocutors in this field precisely because of their attitude and the results of their management."

 

Former inspector Emili Quevedo, answering the prosecution on Monday in the Supreme Court
 

Emili Quevedo, former inspector in the Catalan police, backs up Castellví's statement

Despite the fact that he is under investigation in another trial for the same events, Emili Quevedo, who was the technical inspector for Planning and Security in the Catalan Police, was interrogated as a witness, and he began by answering the questions of prosecutor Javier Zaragoza.

Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza, interrogating Emili Quevedo in the Supreme Court on Monday

 

Meeting on 28-S with Puigdemont, Junqueras and Forn due to the "tense environment"

Quevedo explained that, on 26 September, leading figures in the Catalan police met with top Catalan government officials to attempt to have the 1-O referendum called off, but that "they were unsuccessful."

For this reason, Major Trapero requested another meeting two days later, on the 28th, and he asked him to attend it. Quevedo explained that, in this meeting, president Carles Puigdemont, vice-president Oriol Junqueras and minister of the Interior Joaquim Forn were present, and that the latter did not say anything.

The former inspector highlighted the exceptional nature of this meeting - "we had never had a similar meeting over any other problem, no matter how important" - in which they insisted on the need to call off the 1-O referendum due to the "tense environment" there was.

Junqueras i Puigdemont no els fan cas

According to him, they also expressed their "utter disagreement" with the public messages that had been issued by the government in favour of the 1-O referendum, but that the three politicians stood by their intention:

"I  recall that what Mister Junqueras said was that he believed there would be no resistance of any manner, that when the agents... the agents... the police and law enforcement agents intervened in the polling stations, the people would peacefully allow the police to act."

According to his account, Puigdemont said that they had a mandate to carry out:

Emili Quevedo: "Mister Puigdemont, who closed the meeting, said that the government had a mandate to carry out, that they understood our reasons, but that they had a mandate that had been backed up by the results of the elections that had taken place and that they would carry on with their plans."

When questioned by the prosecution, Quevedo stated that the Catalan police commanders had told the government officials that they "would fulfil their duty as judicial police":

 

"A normal election"

Quevedo previously explained that Albert Batlle resigned when Joaquim Forn replaced Jordi Jané at the head of the ministry of the Interior because "he did not feel comfortable" with this change.

Forn told them that he was "well aware" of the separation between the "political activity" of the government and "compliance with the law by the police", but that Quevedo did not like it when the minister stated that 1-O would be "a normal election":

According to Quevedo, on 20-S a coordination centre "was improvised" to "keep track of events".

In early September 2017, however, the so called "operation Ágora" had been launched to respond to the "tense environment" being lived in Catalonia, because "tension and conflicts could arise between opposed groups."

Trapero's reluctance to the coordination of Pérez de los Cobos

Quevedo stated that, with regard to 1-O, in order to comply with the judicial order, the three police corps should have joined forces, and he was unable to answer the question of why Trapero did not want Diego Pérez de los Cobos to coordinate them. Quevedo only underlined that Trapero was reluctant to "put the coordination in the hands of a non-operational command."