FOUR former senior officials of Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, have gone on trial at Spain’s High Court, accused of playing a “key role” in the Catalan independence bid in 2017.

The force’s ex-chief Major Josep Lluís Trapero is the most senior figure on trial, along with his then-political bosses Pere Soler and Cèsar Puig, who are being tried for rebellion, and former superintendent Teresa Laplana, who faces the lesser charge of sedition.

Trapero – who was lauded for his handling of the Barcelona terror attacks – features prominently in the 94-page indictment, which accuses them all of “passivity” on October 1, the day of the indyref, as officers from Spain’s National Police and Civil Guard laid into voters with riot batons and fired rubber bullets at them.

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The indictment claimed he “contributed in a decisive manner so that the Mossos were placed at the service of the secessionist plan … and deliberately designed mechanisms so that officers were hindered from complying with the instructions issued by the public prosecutor and with court rulings.”

Prosecutors said Trapero ordered an “insufficient police presence” to the Economic Affairs Department two weeks before the indyref, where protestors had gathered as Spanish authorities searched the building for material related to the planned poll.

However, Trapero said he and the Mossos had always displayed their commitment to the law.

Prosecutor Miguel Ángel Carballo asked him why they did not form an early cordon around the ministry, to which Trapero responded that neither their attitude nor the nature of the rally would justify such a move.

Trapero was asked about his relationship with former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, but said they had not been close and their relationship was “neither good nor bad”.

In his evidence, he defended talking with the organiser of the September 20 rally, then-president of the Catalan National Assembly, Jordi Sànchez, to ensure public order during it.

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He said: “We don’t judge by what they say. And regardless of what they say, if they don’t commit a crime, they are the ones to talk to … a demonstration seeks to get as many people as possible and that’s why we won’t give up talking to them.”

He said Sànchez had criticised his handling of the situation, but said “he wasn’t going to tell me how to deploy my officers”.

He added: “I can’t accept this idea of passivity. You can’t conclude that we didn’t want to do anything. There were many scenarios. Maybe with more officers and planning we could have done things differently but it’s not fair to suggest we only acted as mediators because it’s not true.”