The lies of the Spanish government’s delegate during the trial of the political prisoners

Attempts to discredit Catalonia’s public TV in recent years are being used as a convenient tool for concealing lies

Mònica Planas
2 min
Millo, al Suprem

This Tuesday morning, while Enric Millo (the Spanish government’s delegate in Catalonia during the independence referendum on 1 October 2017) was giving evidence before Madrid’s Supreme Court, he made reference to his appearance on the Catalan public television channel, TV3, which he accused of having twisted his words.

Lídia Heredia, the presenter and director of the morning show on which Millo was interviewed, 'Els matins', sought to shed light on the situation. She showed the audience the statements made by Millo on her program which had allegedly been manipulated. She showed two clips in which Millo appeared, back to back, in their entirety. The first came from the trial that very morning, in which he denied having apologized on behalf of the Spanish police [for beating up voters on October 1]. The second clip was from his interview on 6 October 2017, five days after the police baton charges outside the polling stations, in which he clearly apologized. Heredia broadcast unedited excerpts which were sufficient to make Millo’s words speak for themselves.

When responding to the prosecutor’s questions, Millo stated that during his appearance on TV3, after spending forty-five minutes watching video on a continuous loop of people being truncheoned, he had declared that Puigdemont had sole responsibility and apologized on behalf of the Catalan president: "Taking stock of the situation and regretting what had happened and concerned for the people who, in all good faith, had been deceived by their government into thinking that what they were doing was legal, I apologized. In that sense I apologized. Then my words were twisted in the headline. The headline was designed to grab attention, as if I were apologizing for the behaviour of the security forces. Nothing could be further from the truth". Next TV3 broadcast Millo’s statements on 6 October (last minute of this video). At no time did he mention Puigdemont. Instead, he said that "When I see the images, and when I know that there were people who were shoved and struck and that there’s even someone who still hasn’t been discharged from hospital, I can’t feel anything but regret and I apologize on behalf of the officers involved, for any possible consequences, and [on behalf of] those who were in charge…".

During the lunchtime news programme (TN migdia), anchor Raquel Sans showed the same video excerpts while standing outside the Supreme Court. As with 'Els matins', they allowed the audience to reach its own conclusions.

Millo has been exposed, along with his lies and his thoughtless cynicism, in believing that the TV images wouldn’t reveal the truth. This latest incident highlights a phenomenon which has already occurred on several occasions during the trial: both the prosecution and certain witnesses use TV3 (and the euphemism of "certain media outlets in Catalonia") to justify deceptions, negative interpretations, appeals to the masses and fact-twisting. The discredit that TV3 has been subjected to all these years now serves as a convenient tool to conceal lies and spread falsehoods. And the time for the defence to show videos during the trial is still to come. Meanwhile, we just can’t wait for Lídia Heredia to invite Enric Millo on her show again, so he can clear up this mystery once and for all.

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