The Barcelona Court has handed down a harsh sentence against some Mossos agents who attacked a young man whom they intercepted for breaking the curfew imposed during the Covid crisis. The sentence issued by the seventh section imposes a sentence of 7 years in prison for two Mossos d’Esquadra agents from the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona who slapped and hit the young man and who later falsified the police report to cover up. There are two more agents convicted. One is sentenced to 3 years in prison and the other is sentenced to one year. Furthermore, the sentence requires compensation to the victim with more than 14,000 euros, to which must be added the cost of the injured party’s dental expenses.
The judges reproach that the victim “was detained without cause” and that “the use of force was unnecessary, excessive and, therefore, disproportionate,” they emphasize. The young man suffered grazes, blows and three broken teeth. The attack was recorded by a neighbor who was hanging out her clothes and that has been key evidence to convict the agents.
The events occurred on November 13, 2020. On those dates, mobility restrictions due to the Covid crisis were in force and a curfew had been imposed that prohibited movement on the streets after 10 p.m. Around 11:30 p.m., a patrol stopped a group of young people with the intention of punishing them for violating curfew. The young people, according to the sentence, did not pay attention to the first call from the Mossos but did pay attention to the second “when they realized that the order was directed at them.” From there, the action began that has resulted in the harsh sentencing of the agents. “They put them against the wall and asked for their documentation.” The group, as described in the sentence, was calm, but, on the other hand, a police corporal was very upset and reproached them that “when the police stopped them, they had to stop.” The young man, who would later be attacked, responded that they should have stopped a criminal who had just stolen five euros from them. That “extremely bothered” the corporal who hit him hard with both hands on his face, at the level of his ears, and then grabbed him by the neck and hit him against the wall, immediately proceeding to separate him from the group and throw him to the ground in the middle. of the road with a maneuver known as sweeping: lifting him by his legs and at the same time propelling him towards the ground with his hand on one shoulder, performing a lock that caused him to fall violently against the asphalt,” the ruling describes.
From there, there were other agents who helped the corporal to subdue the detainee. One of them, being aware that there was no reason to immobilize him, while there were others who acted “without being aware of the illegality of the detention.” The young man was taken to the police station where he spent the entire night until he was brought to justice at 12:30 p.m. the next day.
The court condemns the agents who participated in the action for a crime against moral integrity, illegal detention, injuries and falsification of public documents. In order to justify the arrest, the corporal and another agent falsified the police report. “They narrated and signed some false facts in the police report” that they delivered to the Mossos reports unit, the sentence states. The ruling also criticizes that the agents “falsely included that there was a group of three people who were upset, aggressive, booing the agents and disobeying their instructions,” and accusing the young man of behaving nervously and of having kicked the officer. that he had to immobilize him to avoid receiving more blows.” For the court, all of this represents “an alteration of reality.”
