‘El País’ photojournalist Albert Garcia acquitted of the accusation of pushing a police officer

A judge has acquitted the photographer of ‘El País’ Albert Garcia, who was tried accused of pushing a national policeman when he was covering the ‘procés’ riots in Barcelona, ​​concluding that there is no “reliable evidence” against him.

In the sentence, advanced by ‘El País’, the Criminal Court 8 of Barcelona exonerates Garcia for the lack of “reliable” evidence that he pushed the policeman and also because he concludes that, more than struggle with the policemanWhat happened was “an agent of the authority grabbing a person in order to arrest him.”

For this reason, the judge applies the principle of “in dubio por reo” (in case of doubt, benefit for the accused) and acquits the photographer, since he understands that there are “serious doubts” that the events occurred as reported by the Prosecutor’s Office, which even asked for a a year and a half in jail for a crime of assault on authority, although in the trial he lowered it to a fine of 4,800 euros for disobedience.

After analyzing the statement of Garcia, the policemen and the witnesses who testified in the trial and viewing the images available on the incident, the judge concludes in his sentence, that it can be appealed before the Court of Barcelona, ​​that it has not been possible declare it proven that the photographer ignored the orders issued by the police to undermine his principle of authority or that he gave him a strong push and then got away from the attempted arrest and hit the agent hard on the right hand, as claimed by the Prosecutor’s Office .

The events occurred on October 18, 2019 in the Urquinaona square in Barcelona, ​​when the photographer was covering the riots in the protests for the condemnation of the ‘procés’ leadership.

At the trial, Garcia explained that a police officer told him that he was detained and asked a colleague for help to make the arrest, at a time when there were no more disturbances in Urquinaona Square and the situation was under police control.

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“At no time do I put up any resistance. I feel scared and I don’t understand anything and I want to protect my team [de fotografía]”Garcia alleged, who accused several agents who testified in the trial of incurring false testimony since, for example, he explained that it is a lie that he made dead weight with his body to prevent his transfer once he was arrested.

“I tell them that they hurt me and that way I could not walk, the ground was full of stones, I was choking with the mask, it was an unbearable situation to walk,” Garcia said.