The activists who painted the Mahón police station to protest a case of police infiltration are being investigated as a criminal group.
The Supreme Court has transferred the case from the Mahón Court to Barcelona
PalmThe Supreme Court (TS) has handed over to a court in Barcelona the investigation against the Arran activists who last January allegedly vandalized the National Police station in Mahón where a Menorcan agent who infiltrated left-wing pro-independence movements was stationed.
This is stated in a recent ruling by the Criminal Chamber, which puts an end to the doubts about which judicial body has jurisdiction to investigate the case against six people accused of harassment, property damage, and belonging to a criminal organization. The case initially fell under the jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigation Number 2 of Maó, whose presiding judge carried out the initial proceedings and, after reviewing the police report, requested to be transferred to the Court of Preliminary Investigation Number 28 of Barcelona.
He did so arguing that the acts they are accused of were planned in Barcelona and that the videos with threatening messages against the aforementioned officer, whose infiltration was uncovered by The DirectThey were also published from the Catalan city.
Therefore, according to the Menorcan court, the acts potentially constituting the crimes of harassment and membership in a criminal organization were allegedly committed in Barcelona, while only the act of property damage occurred in Mahón. The Barcelona court, however, rejected the transfer of jurisdiction, arguing that none of the suspects reside in Barcelona, and referred the matter to the Supreme Court, which has now returned the investigation. The judges based their decision on the fact that Barcelona was the "operational base" of the alleged criminal group and the location from which the intimidating videos were published.
The Mahón court considers them a criminal group.
According to the police report compiled so far, which is included in the Supreme Court's record, the officer was allegedly harassed after an independent media outlet published an investigation into police infiltration of several social movements across the country. TV3 also broadcast the investigation, and the following day, five activists traveled from Barcelona to Mahón, where they spray-painted a building. "Infiltration is torture," they wrote, and threw paint at the facade of the National Police station in Mahón. They then left the island and later posted videos on Arran's social media accounts showing them carrying out the protest. For all these reasons, the Mahón Court stated in a hearing last May that six people identified as suspects and under investigation in the case are part of "a criminal group with sufficient structure and a division of roles."