Ex Barça president gives statement in case of alleged state smear campaign against independence movement

Sandro Rosell, the former president of FC Barcelona, gave a statement on Wednesday evening to judges investigating the alleged state-orchestrated smear campaign against people linked with the Catalan independence movement. 

In the first-ever complaint accepted by the Spanish judiciary to investigate the alleged operation of Spanish politicians, civil servants, police officers, members of the judiciary, and the media against the Catalan independence movement, Rosell urged the magistrate to investigate "to the bottom, whoever falls." 

Also on Wednesday evening, a former high-ranking Spanish police commissioner, José Manuel Villarejo, affirmed that 'Operation Catalonia' came from "the very bowels of the presidency of the Spanish government," then in the hands of the then-conservative People's Party (PP) leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Rosell's complaint is directed against Villarejo, Villarejo's ex-inspector Antonio Giménez, police inspector Alberto Estévez, and a former FBI agent stationed at the US Embassy in Madrid, Marc L. Varri. The investigating judge has summoned Villarejo, Giménez, and Estévez to give statements on May 26.

The lawyer of the former Barça president, Pau Molins, celebrated the fact a court has agreed to investigate the facts "for the sake of justice." Molins also pointed out that Rosell spent almost two years in preventive detention as a victim of 'Operation Catalonia,' according to the lawyer. 

Molins added that Rosell "suspected that it was not a legal issue" that he was detained for such a long time, "that it went further, but he had to wait almost six years to find out what was the true motivation that was hidden behind imputations that were not correct," Molins said. Rosell was jailed for almost two years between 2017 and 2019 while his trial for a money-laundering case in which he was later found not guilty was ongoing. 

Villarejo speaks at Spanish Congress investigation

In September, Spain's Congress voted in favor of launching an investigation into 'Operation Catalonia.' As part of this investigation, Villarejo said that the so-called 'Operation Catalonia' was directed by Spain's secret services (CNI), and "basically it was about preventing a well-organized and structured part of Spain, which was Catalonia, from maintaining the possibility of independence."

The former Spanish police commissioner said that it "was pushed forward by the vice president of the Spanish government," who at the time was PP's Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, who had authority over the CNI. 

Apart from the secret services, the operation was carried out by Spain's National Police and the Guardia Civil. "It was an undercover operation that went far beyond the police," Villarejo affirmed. Regarding his role, the former commissioner said that he personally was "more of an observer than a protagonist."