Barcelona 4 Feb Prisoners Released on Bail

Two of the Barcelona 4 February prisoners falsely charged with injuring a cop two years ago were released on bail yesterday pending the verdict which will be delivered in 15 days. Unfortunately, the third prisoner has not been released.

Juan and Alex have been released following their trial and the trial of Rodrigo and 6 others (on lesser charges) which happened between 7th and 11th January. None of the accused has received a verdict or sentencing yet.

The three facing the most serious charges have been in pre-trial detention for the last two years and the prosecution last week demanded 11 years of prison for the three detainees and 4 to 8 years for the other 6 comrades, despite medical opinion in favour of the defence stating that there was no way the three could have been responsible for the injury sustained by the cop.




Background

In the early morning hours of February 4th, a group of young people left the house of some friends after a night of celebration. Some were on their way to the metro, others were on their way to another party that was being held in the closeby street of Sant Pere Mes Baix.

Once in Sant Pere, they saw a group of people having a discussion with the Guardia Urbana (one of the many police forces in this area) outside of the Anarko Penya, the squat where the other party was taking place. As the group approached this discussion, the police charged suddenly and without warning, beating people severely.

The young people tried to leave the area, but could not escape the police blows. In the midst of this, all kinds of objects were being thrown from the balconies of the Anarko Penya. When the initial chaos of the situation had passed, seven people had been arrested and a policeman was in a coma.

Two more people were arrested later in hospital, where they had gone to seek treatment due to bicycle accidents. They had not been in Sant Pere Mes Baix at all that night, they were simply arrested due to their "squatter-like" appearence (or so perceived by the police) and the fact that they had injuries.

All of the nine who were arrested were tortured by two different police forces : the Guardia Urbana and the Mossos d'Esquadra. They were beaten and tortured at the moment of their arrest and continuously in the police station, hospitals and police vans.

They suffered multiple injuries all over their bodies, blows to the head, black eyes, and two have broken arms.

The first "official" press release from the city council said that a flower pot, thrown from the balcony of the Anarko Penya, had hit the policeman. The judge ruled that the existence of the flower pot could not be discussed during the trial!

The "official" version then went through a variety of changes before arriving at the final conclusion that the three people still in prison had supposedly thrown stones at the police from the street with the intention to kill.

The only evidence -stones- were gathered outside of the direct crime scene and were "chosen in an arbitrary manner", as stated by the police officer in charge; they containted no fingerprints, tissue, or blood.

The "crime" scene wasn't cordoned and the local city cleaners actually came and cleaned the street before scientific evidence could be taken. Furthermore, specialists opinion is that the wound received by the policeman is too serious to have been caused by a stone thrown from the street.

For more information, see  http://www.wombles.org.uk/topics/prisoners/barcelona4F and www.karcelona.revolt.org