April 29, Day 37 of Trial
Ivo Vajgl, MEP for Slovenia, told the court that he considers jailed Catalan leader Romeva a “defender of human rights” and that his relationship with him involved conflict resolution.
“I’ve always said that Romeva has always acted peacefully and has defended dialogue. We collaborated on issues related to peace and war in Syria and the Middle East,” said Vajgl.
“The Catalan question was always present in the European Parliament. Everyone has their own opinion, mine would be to face the issue with dialogue,” explained Vajgl.
Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes said that she and Romeva were both members of a subcommittee of defense in the European Parliament.
“I am absolutely convinced that Romeva is a true democrat who is pro-human rights. Regarding Catalonia, we spoke in private; he was in favor of dialogue and an agreement,” Gomes told the Court.
The Portuguese politician explained that she attended a conference on the Catalan conflict and possible solutions.
“I went to it because the ideas on how to solve it seemed interesting to me. They were pushing for an agreed referendum solution, like what we saw in Scotland,” explained Gomes.
German MP Andrej Hunko said that he was invited to Catalonia by Diplocat, the diplomacy council of Catalonia, but affirmed that his visit was not official as an international observer.
“We wrote a report [on the referendum], making particular mention of the violence from the Spanish police,” said Hunko
“I didn’t see any act of violence by protesters against police cars,” said Lluís Llach, singer and former Catalan MP, in reference to the protests on September 20, 2017, against Spanish police raids of Catalan government buildings.
“We take to the streets because we know that the protests are peaceful, and should anyone engage in violent acts, we would leave them alone,” Llach told the court.
April 30, Day 38 of Trial
A witness said that the Spanish police officers were very violent during the referendum. He saw police officers “beating people and pulling them by the hair.” Another witness said he was forcefully removed by officers, who then kicked him “twice in the back.”
Joan Pau Salvadó, who participated in the 2017 independence referendum, said that the police beat voters despite being peaceful. “The voters were raising their hands and chanting: we only want to vote.” “It was the most important day of my life,” added Salvadó.
Albert Salvadó, another voter, told the court:
“The first officers brought people out without violence, but they were forceful. After that, more police arrived, and they exercised explicit violence. I saw several friends with T-shirts with blood.”
Salvadò also said that there was neither violence nor threats against the Spanish security forces by voters.
David Elvira, former head of the Catalan health department, CatSalut, said that some 1,066 people received medical assistance for injuries provoked by the Spanish police violence during the referendum.
Josep Goded 