The 17th investigative court of Barcelona has once again charged the former Minister of Health and current vice president of the Parliament, Alba Vergès, for the delay in the Covid vaccination of the National Police and the Civil Guard. In an order released this Thursday, the magistrate sees indications of the commission of a crime of prevarication and against the health of workers in the actions of the former councilor. As she is convicted, the judge offers her the possibility of giving a voluntary statement before sending a reasoned statement to the TSJC so that it can formally charge her.
Although the former councilor had been exonerated from the case when the judge did not see evidence of a crime, her situation changed after her successor in office, Josep Maria Argimón, presented a string of WhatsApp messages in which the responsibility of Vergès in the paralysis of the vaccination of the State security forces and bodies. The judge himself alludes to a message from a member of Vergès' cabinet in which it was ordered to stop the immunization of police officers. "Once again, the councilor asks me to stop the Civil Guard and National Police. We will not be able to argue it, we would have to stop it," she wrote.
The court upholds the imputation of several senior officials of the Ministry of Health such as Josep Maria Argimón, Marc Ramentol, Adrià Comella and Xavier Rodríguez, although it dictates the file regarding Dr. Carmen Cabezas who was Deputy Director General of Health Promotion and Sara Manjón, director of the organization and professionals area of the Catalan Health Service.
In his order, the judge sees it evident that the Generalitat made an "arbitrary, illegal, unfair and discriminatory" decision against the officials of the National Police and the Civil Guard, in reference to the resolution issued by the TSJC and that forced vaccination of immediately to the agents in April 2021. The vaccination process was already ready to resume on March 24, 2021 "but it was suspended due to an unreasonable and inexplicable decision that only finds an explanation in feelings of contempt towards groups of officials integrated into national bodies," the judge attacks.
