The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has defined Operation Catalunya as “the biggest cancer of the rule of law in matters of State Security forces and bodies” while defending the National Police agents who acted in Barcelona during the 1-O referendum, 46 of whom are one step away from sitting in the dock for the charges of that day.
The head of the Interior, interviewed on TVE’s La Hora de la 1, has been asked about the Catalunya operation launched in 2012 by the former Minister of the Interior Jorge Fernández Díaz to use the National Police to destroy political enemies mainly linked to the Catalan nationalism. “It has been one of the biggest or the biggest cancer of the rule of law in matters of State Security bodies and forces,” said the minister, who regretted that what happened “should be unthinkable but unfortunately it has been a reality.” .
“The PP governments, some of my predecessors used the National Police for the opposite of what State Security bodies and forces should serve, to discredit the rule of law, to destroy evidence, to use it for the benefit of the party of the government, to make politics absolutely rejectable,” denounced Grande-Marlaska, who has taken the opportunity to guarantee that for five and a half years, that is, since the PSOE has governed and therefore with him at the head of the Interior, “this cancer has been extirpated from our security forces and bodies.”
However, he has defended that prior to his mandate “the vast majority of security forces and bodies did an impeccable job” and has reduced what happened to the fact that a part of the National Police was used by the PP in an absolutely reprehensible, criminal manner. and against the interests of the State”.
After the Barcelona Court yesterday endorsed taking 46 national police officers to trial for the charges of 1-O due to disproportionality in their actions when seeing signs of crimes of injuries and against the moral integrity of voters, Marlaska has defended the agents who acted during that day. “I am not going to discuss the judge’s decision but I am convinced that our men and women acted with the necessary proportionality,” said the head of the Interior, who also highlighted the “great professionalism of the men and women of the bodies and forces.” of security”. In his opinion, “his conduct and behavior is always within the framework of the law.”
Regarding the investigation carried out by the judge of the National Court Manuel García-Castellón against the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont for terrorism, the minister recalled his previous status as a judge precisely of the National Court and his condition as a Basque to ensure that “All of us Spaniards and Basques in a very particular way know what terrorism is and what is not terrorism.”
Likewise, he said that he is not aware of Puigdemont’s alleged contacts with the entourage of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which yesterday the European Parliament called for an investigation, but he added that this is already the subject of an investigation and has urged that the competent bodies be left, that is, That is, it is up to the judiciary and prosecutors to determine its existence.
Finally, the minister has not evaded answering whether the judiciary is interfering in the tasks of the legislature regarding the processing of the Amnesty law, but he has called on all the powers of the State to fulfill their respective powers, that is, the legislative , dictate the rules, and the judiciary, enforce them. “Let us reflect and be aware of the role of each one, which is the way to dignify the powers of the State and build true democracy and true rule of law,” the minister concluded.
