Police reject an amnesty that "equates" their role in 1-O with those who broke the law supporting the 'procés'

They remind Yolanda Díaz that the agents did not commit any crime in Catalonia and make it ugly that they are used as a "parapet" in partisan debates

MADRID, 28 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Several representative organizations of the National Police and the Civil Guard have rejected the possibility of approving an amnesty law that "matches" the work they carried out to stop the independence referendum of 1-O in Catalonia, complying with court orders and those convicted or charged for their involvement in the 'procés'.

"It is indecent that the Government of Spain proposes to equate the actions of the National Police with that of the criminals who participated in an attempted coup in Catalonia", JUPOL pointed out.

From the SUP they criticize the fact that those who broke the law and public servants are "put on the same plane" and the CEP has denounced the use of the State Security Forces and Bodies as a "parapet to justify an amnesty for pro-independence politicians convicted of sedition or other crimes". "We ask Yolanda Díaz and the rest of the parties not to use us in partisan debates," they have claimed.

The police unions react in this way to the words of the Vice President of the Government and acting Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, who this Monday defended a future amnesty law, understanding that it is "absolutely constitutional." The leader of Sumar has added that there are "multiplicity of assumptions" for the possible beneficiaries, citing the "people who have placed ballot boxes" and the prosecuted authority agents.

"There are multiple assumptions, there are people who have placed ballot boxes; there are agents of the authority who are also prosecuted for different behaviors. In short, this is the complexity of this norm, but I maintain, like many other legal scholars, that it is absolutely constitutional," Yolanda Díaz said in an interview on RTVE's La 1, collected by Europa Press.

"The police officers who acted on 1-O in Catalonia did so at all times in accordance with current legislation, complying with orders from the Government of Spain and a mandate from the Justice, so they would not need amnesty of any kind, since that they should not be immersed in or any judicial process for carrying out their work, putting compliance with the Law and their duty before their physical integrity", has defended Aarón Rivero, general secretary of JUPOL, in statements to Europa Press.

SUP sources have defended that for the police officers prosecuted for 1-O what they are demanding is their free acquittal. "It is not at all acceptable that they place us on the same level as those who broke the law," they lamented.

The general secretary of the CEP, Víctor M. Vigil, recalled that the police have not committed in Catalonia "not a single crime, much less of a political nature" for which they have to be included in a possible amnesty law.

"If what they want is to seek a guarantee for these negotiations, we already anticipate that ours will not have it because there is no more harmful policy for police work than that which denatures the principle of legality of a Rule of Law", has warned the CEP, which flatly rejects "any measure that encourages impunity for any criminal".

The CEP has shown its concern that the "presence, facilities or powers of the National Police and Civil Guard could be a bargaining chip in political negotiations."

From the Civil Guard, the AUGC spokesman, Pedro Carmona, has also regretted that the amnesty "threatens to undo all the hard work carried out by the State Security Forces and Bodies in such a complicated situation, in one of the greatest challenges to the State".

"Deep disappointment and demotivation have taken root among the civil guards due to the lack of institutional support from the Government of Pedro Sánchez. We feel that we are being used as a bargaining chip in Catalonia", he added, underlining his work against the pro-independence leaders who wanted to "undermine the social order and restrict the rights of citizens".