Catalan police official to take ‘unjust persecution’ to court over Operation Catalonia

Josep Lluís Trapero, a high ranking official in the Catalan police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, intends to take the “people who were not legally authorized” to court for the "unjust persecution” that he and the people he supervised suffered during Operation Catalonia. 

Trapero made the announcement in a statement sent to various media on Wednesday. 

The police official criticized certain media outlets for “uncritically” publishing “fabrications and falsehoods in a deceptive manner.” 

Specifically, he mentioned how some outlets had tried to link him to the Catalan ‘Macedonia case’ related to drug trafficking and corruption, for which he was acquitted in 2022. 

The police chief also spoke about how the decade-long "continuous persecution” had “serious legal consequences” for people he supervised, such as Deputy Inspector Josep Ranea, who was imprisoned and later acquitted.  

“As a public servant, but above all as a citizen, it is infuriating, frustrating, and deceptive to find out that other public servants are going after me,” Trapero said, who also pondered what might have happened to ordinary, unknown citizens, if this happened to him. 

Operation Catalonia

The term 'Operation Catalonia' refers to the alleged covert smear campaign against members of the Catalan independence movement devised by Spanish National Police officers and the interior ministry of the conservative Spanish government of Mariano Rajoy.

Spain's Congress voted in favor of launching an investigation into 'Operation Catalonia' in September 2022. At the time of voting, the text stated that the investigation would look into "the alleged irregularities that link high-ranking officials and police commands, as well as their relationship with possible private networks or lobbies, their possible interference in the sovereignty of other countries and this plot's connections with the so-called 'Operation Catalonia'."