Álvaro de Marichalar is acquitted of resisting the Mossos when he protested against independence in front of the Generalitat

The Court of Barcelona acquitted the businessman Álvaro de Marichalar of a crime of resisting authority for which he was tried a few weeks ago. Although he was not present, since he was in Panama “for work reasons”, the trial against Álvaro de Marichalar, represented by the lawyer Juan Cremades, was also held since the Prosecutor's Office requested 9 months in prison, much less than two years marked in the regulations to be mandatory the presence in the dock of the defendant.

The sentence, to which this medium has had access, indicates that on October 26, 2017 Marichalar was in front of the Generalitat in the Sant Jaume square in Barcelona with a Spanish flag and the banner “Enough of 3%. Institutions belong to everyone”, to demand an end to the independence challenge of the then Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. At that moment, a group of pro-sovereignty students appeared in the square to demand the opposite: that the Unilateral Declaration of Independence be made effective.

The students confronted Marichalar and, after insulting him, they took away the banner that they threw towards the zone of fences of the Generalitat, where the Mossos d'Esquadra were guarding the building. “Given the risk of public disorder breaking out and to preserve the physical security” of the businessman, the police officer ordered two agents to accompany him inside the Palau de la Generalitat, as they did, each “taking” him by one arm.

The court points out that Marichalar “did not want to stay inside and wanted to return to the demonstration, he told them that they were not policemen, which led to one of the agents pushing him twice”. Two policemen then took him to a secluded room but upon reaching the door he hit his head on the door which caused them to restrain him, put handcuffs on him and leave him sitting in a room. Before the trial began, the businessman, who suffered injuries and will receive compensation, and the Mossos reached a private agreement and the accusations between them were withdrawn.

After verifying all the evidence carried out in the trial, the magistrates do not appreciate “an attitude of opposition” from the businessman when he was transferred within the Generalitat despite the fact that he showed his “obvious disagreement and disgust” but that “this discrepancy is revealed in his expression , in his gesticulation, but it is not possible to appreciate a physical attitude opposing entering the building”. Therefore, the court notes that there was no resistance to arrest and acquits Marichalar.