Spanish spycops target Catalan newspaper la Directa

The Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has opened sanctioning proceedings against la Directa. This follows it publishing investigations into undercover police officers within social and pro-independence movements.

This was announced on Wednesday at a press conference at the Barcelona Press Association by the outlet, together with Irídia – Centre for the Defence of Human Rights and the Ramon Barnils Group of Journalists.

The action stems from a complaint filed by four of the police officers who, between 2020 and 2023, infiltrated social and political movements in Catalonia and the Valencian Country without judicial authorisation.

The complaints were initially dismissed, but the AEPD’s presidency subsequently reopened the case and has now launched the sanctioning proceedings.

La Directa claims public interest

La Directa maintains that its investigations exposing undercover police officers within social movements constitute a legitimate exercise of the right to communicate and receive truthful information (freedom of information), and reflect the essential democratic role of the media as watchdog of public authorities, particularly when investigating covert police operations that affect fundamental rights.

Through these investigations, la Directa exposed an operation run by the Spanish Police’s General Information Commissioner’s Office, which introduced at least four agents under false identities into social and pro-independence movements.

These cases have had major political, social and legal repercussions. Indeed, for the first time, the Spanish government acknowledged that these infiltrations into social movements were carried out under the police formula of the “intelligence agent”. This is a role that operates without judicial authorisation and has no recognition within the Spanish legal framework. This is a thesis it has reiterated in responses to parliamentary questions and before the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

Despite this, the AEPD’s ruling disregards it and refers to the officers as if they were undercover agents, a category that does have legal grounding and judicial oversight. It even treats the fictitious first and last names the officers used during the infiltration as personal data requiring protection.

The AEPD’s ruling accuses la Directa of disseminating “personal and professional information” about the infiltrated officers “that allows for their identification,” despite the fact that the outlet carried out a rigorous balancing exercise between the right to information and the protection of personal data: it partially concealed their faces and published only the initials of their real first and last names.

‘Gagging effect’ of ruling

Despite these precautions, the ruling also orders the removal of part of the published information and seriously undermines the investigation as a whole, as well as the right to the free exercise of journalism.

Sònia Olivella Saludes, strategic litigation coordinator at Irídia – Centre for the Defence of Human Rights, believes the proceedings:

generate a serious intimidating and gagging effect on investigative journalism.

The organisation, which filed the first criminal complaint against a state police infiltration operation targeting social movements, will submit objections against the proposed sanction and demand that the proceedings be dropped, on the grounds that la Directa struck an appropriate balance between the officers’ right to data protection and the right to information.

Olivella states that the outlet took the necessary precautions to prevent the officers’ direct identification. At the same time, she considers the published information essential to understanding the scope and significance of the infiltration operation. She says:

Spain infiltrated police officers into social movements, resulting in serious human rights violations. Not only has it denied the facts and obstructed victims’ access to justice, but now the outlet that exposed it is being criminalised.

Jesús Rodríguez, a journalist at la Directa, stresses that the public relevance of the information “is indisputable” and notes that uncovering the infiltrations led to the creation of a commission of inquiry in the Catalan Parliament and prompted numerous opposition initiatives and parliamentary questions in the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

In addition, the cases have been covered by Catalan, Spanish and international media outlets, including the Guardian and la Repubblica.

Comparison to the UK

The AEPD’s action stands in stark contrast to the response of public institutions in similar cases in the UK. After it was revealed that undercover officers had maintained intimate relationships with activists under false identities, and only thanks to sustained popular, political and media pressure from social movements, social organisations and news outlets, both the police forces and the UK government took responsibility, apologised to the victims and paid them compensation.

Moreover, in that case, the identities and photographs of the undercover officers were published freely by the media and remain publicly accessible, without this leading to any kind of sanction against the outlets that reported on the facts.

In the Spanish state, by contrast, cases of undercover policing continue to go without effective investigation or any clarification of accountability.

The threat of a financial penalty and the removal of content may discourage the media from publishing relevant information about the actions of public authorities. It therefore has an effect comparable to what are known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), lawsuits designed to silence and censor.

La Directa case could set precedent

These proceedings could set a highly dangerous precedent for all media outlets and professionals who investigate police abuses or other matters uncomfortable for institutions. Elisabet Borreda, co-chair of the Ramon Barnils Group of Journalists says:

It is not la Directa that has violated personal data here, it is Spain, and we will not allow data protection to be used as a weapon against those who investigate it. When the same journalist or outlet accumulates multiple unfounded lawsuits and complaints, we are no longer talking about isolated cases: we are talking about a pattern of attrition, a clear case of SLAPP.

To face the proceedings, which threaten the viability of the journalistic cooperative, la Directa is launching a support campaign. A statement already backed by dozens of journalists and professional, social and human rights organisations, both domestic and international, states:

Defending la Directa means defending society’s right to know how public authorities act. We cannot allow those who investigate to be sanctioned while those who infiltrate are protected.

Among the first signatories are the various movements affected by police infiltration and organisations such as Òmnium Cultural, Alerta Solidària, the Journalists’ Union of Catalonia / Union of Communication Professionals (SPC) and Red Jurídica, along with dozens of media outlets and journalists.

Organisations from the UK, such as State Watch and the Police Spies Out of Lives movement, among others, are also calling for the sanctioning proceedings against la Directa to be dropped and for the Spanish government to introduce the legislative changes needed to ensure data protection rules cannot be used to gag and censor the media.

Rodríguez notes:

The AEPD’s sanction leads us to question the democratic quality of Spanish institutions. The names, surnames and photographs of officers who infiltrated social movements in the UK can be freely published by any media outlet, including la Directa, yet we are being ordered to censor all data relating to the undercover officers in the Spanish state, despite the undeniable news value of these cases.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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