Spain: Update on the trial of anarchist comrades Monica Caballero & Francisco Solar

08.03.16: Summary of the first session of the trial against anarchist comrades Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar. 

At the start of the hearing, one of the defence lawyers intervened to remind the court that a text had been introduced expressing doubts on the impartiality of the court, requesting the change of the judges. It also called for another form of judgment, in which the accused could speak last, after all the witnesses and experts. In the face of the court’s refusal to grant both claims, the hearing began with the statements of Francisco and Monica, who refused to answer the prosecution’s questions, responding only to those of their lawyers.

Both claimed their anarchist ideas, they denied responsibility for the attack at the Basilica del Pilar, as well as belonging to any organization, which, according to the cop literature, is composed of leaders and hierarchies. Before being interrupted by the judge of the court, Angela Murillo, Francisco declared: “Yes, I am an anarchist because I mean freedom from any constraint. I think that individual creativity springs forth when there is no authority, nor orders or commands from above, which only atrophy and degrade human conduct. The State implies subordination and is against every impulse of freedom; it also implies the existence of moneylenders and exploiters”. And on organizations … “they restrict individual freedom and reduce people’s initiative to pre-established norms.” And Monica: “Any hierarchical foundation is incompatible with my ideology and way of thinking, because each dome of Power is harmful and limiting for the human being”. And responding to a question from her lawyer, she took the opportunity to reaffirm their bonds of affinity and solidarity with the other arrested comrades.

After the comrades’ statements, it was the turn of the witnesses, beginning with several members of the National Police, nine in all, who had participated in some way in the investigations. In these statements there are some contradictions on the collaboration and the flow of information provided by the Chilean State and how this may have affected the way that the investigations centered on Monica and Francisco. In this sense, one of the defence lawyers presented as evidence a press release of the General Directorate of the National Police, which informed of the operation at the time and it was assumed was a result of cooperation between States.

No doubt the court did not take it into account. The methods used for identification of the accused and therefore the accuracy of the results was also put in question. Immediately after they proceeded to hear the witnesses present at the time of the explosion in the religious temple. First, the woman who would have sustained injuries to her ear declared that, while she was praying, two people approached her warning her to leave the place. Still she cannot even confirm whether it was two men or a man and a woman. She simply saw the profile of a man whom she could not identify.

The other two witnesses are a security guard and a doorman of the Basilica del Pilar, who apart from describing the time of the explosion endeavoured to convey the sense of the serious danger of the bomb.

It is worth mentioning that some days before the trial the Church Council of Zaragoza withdrew from litigation.

(via Act For Freedom Now!)