A former head of the Catalan police force who gained widespread praise for his handling of the Barcelona terrorist attacks last August has been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation for his role in the events leading up to Catalonia’s illegal declaration of independence two months later.



Josep Lluís Trapero belonged to a “complex and heterogeneous criminal organisation” led by the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, the Spanish national court judge Carmen Lamela said in an indictment on Thursday.

Trapero also faces charges for public order offences related to the independence declaration in October.

The regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, “shared a common goal of bringing about Catalonia’s secession and the proclamation of a republic, and in this manner changing the political organisation of the state and the government, contrary to the constitution and the statute of autonomy,” Lamela said.

Less than a year ago, Trapero and his officers were hailed as heroes for their handling of the terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in which 14 people were killed and more than 130 injured. Within hours, the Mossos had shot dead five of the perpetrators and arrested the others.

The charges against Trapero relate to events in September and October last year. In September, the Mossos did nothing to intervene when a large crowd kept members of the Spanish civil guard trapped for hours inside a Catalan government office they had been ordered to search. During the incident, several civil guard vehicles were vandalised.

On 1 October, the Mossos were expected to close down polling booths set up in schools for an independence referendum. However, the police only intervened sporadically and, in many cases, only took away ballot boxes if the schools’ occupants gave them up voluntarily.



Spanish civil guards and national police officers then attempted to stop the referendum with force. Images of riot police beating voters and taking away ballot boxes were beamed around the world.

Trapero quit the force in October after being demoted when the Spanish government imposed direct rule on the region. Two other members of the regional police and an official with the regional interior department were also indicted on Thursday.

The charge sheet alleges that “the action plan was known in advance by the people occupying the schools and, knowing the Mossos would not intervene, obstructed police officers who did attempt to carry out the judicial order”.