SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF 17-A ATTACKS

The Catalan Ombudsman, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks two years ago (August 17 and 18, 2017), calls for a parliamentary explanation and wishes to express its solidarity with the victims and their families, some of which are encountering unusual difficulties to obtain the recognition and support they deserve from the Spanish Ministry of Domestic Affairs.

It is inadmissible that all the parliamentary investigation in the Congress of Deputies be the appearance before the Commission of Official Secrets of the director of the Spanish Center of Intelligence, that the rest of Mps and citizens have yet to know about.

In addition, in line with the report Prevention of radicalization and terrorism in Catalonia, submitted and discussed in the Parliament of Catalonia, the Catalan Ombudsman reiterates that contradictory information appeared during the last weeks that point the imam of Ripoll as a confident of the Spanish Center of Intelligence, and that this could have had a negative impact on detecting his radicalization and preventing the attacks, without any official response in this regard. In a positive sense, the Catalan Ombudsman welcomes the fact that the Catalan Autonomous Police (Mossos d’Esquadra) has finally been admitted as a full member of the Spanish Center of Intelligence against Organized Crime and Terrorism (CITCO), but continues to claim this same recognition on an international scale (EUROPOL).

For this reason, the Catalan Ombudsman states and reiterates that:

1. The Government of the State must clearly and publicly clarify the events that led to the attacks. And an in-depth explanation is needed in the Spanish Parliament.

2. The Catalan Police (Mossos d'Esquadra) must be fully integrated into the areas of European police coordination.

3. It is necessary to investigate whether the Catalan Police received all the information available to the Spanish Center of Intelligence or the bodies and security forces of the State and if the coordination between police forces was correct.

4. It is necessary to investigate and clarify whether Abdelbaki is Satty was confident of the Spanish Center of Intelligence and what knowledge this center had of his steps in the days before the attacks.

5. All institutional support must be given to the victims of the attacks, particularly those that have suffered psychological damage. Barcelona, August 16th, 2019

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