The defense demands absolution for Monica and Francisco and denounces the “bias of the police investigation and the judicial proceedings”
translated from Diagonal with thanks
summary of Day 1.
The big news was that the police have no firm evidence against Fran and Moni who deny ever visiting Zaragoza! All they have is a video of 2 people leaving a bar, you can’t see their faces but the police claim their ways of walking are similar to those of Fran and Moni. Seriously! That’s the evidence to spend 44 yrs each in jail.
The second big news was that both the judge and prosecutor chosen are extreme right wing zealots famous for their outrageous opinions and judgements. The 3 deciding magistrates (there is no jury) are the same who refused bail for over 2 years, and are openly part of the prosecution. And the police are openly trying to brand Francisco and Monica with leading a grand anarchist insurrection conspiracy, in the hope of getting a green light to attack all anarchists and progressive movements.
On Day 1 every time Fran or Monica mentioned their anarchist beliefs the judge, Ángela Murillo, interrupted to silence them.. we focussed on this bias. But other reporters focussed on their actual words, which turn out to be important, because both implied that as anarchists they are against terrorism as being authoritarian.
Far from wanting to become martyrs promoting an anarchist insurrection they appeared to align themselves with the anarchist majority in Iberia, which recognises that mass public agreement is necessary first. (This could be important in the light of recent events like the ‘Black December’ actions which appear to blur the line between legitimate Direct Action and a return to tactics used a century ago).
update 2nd day:
court picketed by shouting supporters.. 4 defense witnesses confirm descriptions not Monica and Francisco… police exaggerate strength of ”bomb”.. ’‘expert” police knew nothing about body recognition .. grand conspiracy evidence based on internet news. bomb was apparently made with gunpowder from fireworks
Final Day
” With much punctuality this time the van of the paramiltary Civil Guard carrying the anarchists appeared, amid renewed shouts of support and demands for their freedom.
The prosecutor, Teresa Sandoval renewed the attack claiming
“it has been proven the guilt of the accused in the four crimes for which they were being tried.”
The representative of the Public Prosecutor considered that Monica and Francisco are guilty of belonging to a terrorist organization based mainly on the seizure of documents in both physical and computer addresses of the two.
Specifically, she mentioned that they found a book called”Against Democracy” or “Basic Contributions to the debate on actions and the revolutionary struggle”, and she attributed the authorship thereof to Francisco Solar himself, with no evidence.
According to Sandoval, just owning this book, along with the existence of news bulletins from the Coordinated Anarchist Groups (GAC) found in an email account of RiseUp.net, confirm that Mónica and Francisco are in the GAC, which would like to “destabilize and collapse the system and cause revolution by propaganda, the extension of the revolt and sabotage. ”
In this part of her speech, the prosecutor claimed the existence of “similarities” between “terrorism” of Al-Qaeda and the GAC / FAI / FRI, stating that “there appear different ways … to enforce these actions and demands for attracting new members. “
As for the crime of terrorist damage, Sandoval denied that the defendants were at home ‘on the day of the explosion of a device in the Basilica del Pilar on October 2 because at 12:54 pm the electric company came to read the meter and got no answer ‘.
On the much media-hyped subject of their visit to the tourist site at Montserrat near Barcelona the prosecution claimed they were planning another bomb attack because they ”paid surprisingly little attention to the blessed virgin in the church” (Really!) and appeared to be looking around as if observing where the security cameras were.
Private prosecution dismisses the thesis of the “terrorist organization”
There was a change from the private prosecution, which represented the only person hurt in action in the Basilica del Pilar, a woman who received a ‘slight traumatism’ in one ear, suffered from shock and nervous disorders and claims 100,000 euros compensation. Her lawyer said that she now considered the groups that the defendants are claimed to belong to are not terrorist organisations, noting that the FAI/FRI is no longer classed as terrorist by the EU.
It also came to light that there was no intent to injure anyone. First because the ‘bomb’ was timed to explode at 13.50 when the Church was already closed to the public. (The officials were late closing it but had already asked the few tourists to leave). Second because there was at least one telephone warning ”to a local beauty shop” at 13.30, at least 20 minutes before the explosion, but the police say it was not passed on to them until 3.00pm.
The defense lawyers went into some detail to show the overwhelming bias of the media , police and prosecution in pre-judging the case against Fran and Monica
It also said that during the legal proceedings the Court had accepted uncritically “police reports based on ‘internet ‘cut and paste’ proicedures.
His turn of phrase has also included a critique of media coverage, which according to him, has contributed to “remove the presumption of innocence, recalling pre-democratic times.”
The two defense lawyers have also been critical of the proceedings conducted by the Police Information Brigade respect to the key evidence of visual body recognition, carried out by a computer program that experts confirmed is in no way safe and effective, nor is it approved by any agency or department of justice investigation.
The defense believes that the Spanish National Police in collaboration with the Catalan Police- wanted to create a “fictional body of literature” around the GAC “that legitimized the repression of the anarchist movement “.
Regarding the accusation of belonging to a “terrorist organization”, the defense has argued that there is no proven membership of any organization; and that the only three newsletters that were made public by the Coordinated Anarchist Groups (GAC ) do not include any invocation of terrorism and, moreover, have not claimed any terrorist action. They also strongly criticized the prosecution and the National Court for “lending itself to share this fictional narrative.”
Finally, the defense requested an acquittal on all charges and demanded bail to let Francisco and Monica wait for the trial verdict in freedom.
At the end of the session, Judge Angela Murillo offered the floor to the two defendants. First Monica defended her innocence and her anarchist ideology finishing with a resounding “Death to the State and Long Live Anarchy.”
The tension boiled over when Francisco appeared about to do the same as his companion had done previously. On this occasion, the judge interrupted before he could say more shouting “do not give us lessons!” She then expelled the audience, who were beginning to applaud the defendants, from the Court amid cries of support for Fran and Monica!
Meanwhile, in the press room the TV screens from which the broadcast session was being relayed were abruptly switched off, all to prevent us hearing Fran say “Death to the State and Long Live Anarchy.”
It was presumed that the Judge went on to declare the case ‘Ready For Sentence’ (the decision could be long delayed) and order Fran and Moni back to their cells.
