MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola has been cited in a report accusing various Catalan groups of rebellion.
As reported in the Catalan media, a document by the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain listed the former Barcelona head coach among a group of names under investigation for their actions during a year of political upheaval in Catalonia.
Guardiola has been an outspoken advocate of Catalan independence and attended a number of related events – he has also been seen adorning a yellow ribbon, a symbol that has become synonymous with the independence movement, while coaching his current team from the sidelines.
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This includes a march on June 11 where he read a pro-independence manifesto to supporters.
Guardiola was also outspoken about the treatment of the eight jailed politicians following the dissolution of the Catalan parliament in October. Now an official statement from the Spanish Civil Guard has said that the “manifesto was read by Josep Guardiola and was done so to mobilise all the supporters of independence”.
The 560-page report has also deemed the marches that since 2012 to have taken place on September 11 – Catalonia’s National Day – as acts of rebellion.
Delivering the report to Judge Pablo Llarena of Spain’s Supreme Court adds to the case against pro-independence leaders of the region and the information contained within will be used as information for the upcoming trial, which includes a lawsuit for the crime of rebellion.
Eight Catalan politicians were jailed at the beginning of last month, though six have since been released on bail.
Two high-profile figures, the ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont’s deputy Oriol Junqueras and Catalan ex-Interior Minister Joaquim Forn, remain in jail awaiting trial.
Junqueras’s lawyer Andreu van den Eynde confirmed that his client’s charges included that of rebellion: “In the end they did it: according to the police, Catalonia’s National Day demonstrations are part of the crime of rebellion,” he wrote.
Also listed in the document is Marta Rovira of the Esquerra Republicana party, former Catalan president Artur Mas, and CUP candidate Anna Gabriel.
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