The six Mossos agents are expelled after being convicted of calling a young man a “fucking black man”

Demonstration against racist attacks in Sabadell, in June, after Wubi DRVictòria Rovira’s complaint

This Monday, before the judge, six Mossos d’Esquadra agents accepted a one-year prison sentence for beating and humiliating a young man for racist reasons in Sant Feliu Sasserra (Barcelona). The police officers, who will be expelled from the force, must undergo a course on equality and non-discrimination and will have to compensate the victim, Wubi DR, with 80,000 euros. “Fucking black man, son of a bitch,” one of the officers told him during the police action, which the victim managed to record with his mobile phone.

The events occurred on the afternoon of January 18, 2019, when the police came to evacuate a home that was occupied by Wubi and four friends. The agents rudely asked him for his documentation and the young man, 20 years old, got scared and ran away. He was persuaded by his friends to return, but Wubi decided to activate the recorder on his mobile phone, a document that has been an essential piece so that the mossos have ended up recognizing the facts and have accepted a minimum prison sentence in the trial, held this Monday at the Barcelona Court.

According to the victim’s version, the officers hit him in the ribs with their boots, spat on him, and grabbed him by the head. “If you run again I’ll tear your head off, is that clear?” one of them tells him, while Wubi moans in pain and accuses them of being racist. The reaction of the police is revealing. “You fucking black son of a bitch, look at me, not racist, the following (…) The next time you see the police, run, but try to go very far away, go further down from Africa, have you is it clear?”

The sentence, handed down in accordance with the accused, concludes that the six police officers are perpetrators of a minor crime of injuries and another against moral integrity with the aggravating circumstance (in five of the six cases) of having acted for racist motivations. The agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office and with the private prosecution, carried out by SOS Racismo, has helped the agents to obtain a reduction in the sentence in exchange for acknowledging the facts and having partially repaired the damage: to date, they have paid 30,000 of the 80,000 euros set as civil liability. The execution of the prison sentence has also been suspended with the agreement of all parties, so none of the agents will have to go to prison.

The return to the police force of these six members of the Mossos Operational Resources Area (ARRO), a unit similar to the riot police that used to participate in evictions, is ruled out in application of the sentence. “For a body that is the reflection of the defense of rights and freedoms, where racist and denigrating attitudes do not fit,” councilor Joan Ignasi Elena shared about a news item on portal 324 that reported on his departure. The police officers have accepted a disqualification that will prevent them from working as police officers for six months. The agents have also accepted that for four years they will not be able to come within 500 meters of Wubi or communicate with him.

You can follow EL PAÍS Catalunya on Facebook and Twitteror sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter

What affects the most is what happens closest. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.

Subscribe
#Mossos #agents #expelled #convicted #calling #young #man #fucking #black #man