The Audiencia de Barcelona, the provincial court in Barcelona, has reopened the criminal case against three Mossos d'Esquadra officers after accepting appeals against an earlier decision to shelve the investigation. The case concerns allegations that the officers helped former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont avoid arrest in Barcelona on 8 August 2024.

The ruling means the three officers will again face judicial proceedings after a lower court had closed the case in April. For local readers, the immediate consequence is that a high-profile case involving the Catalan regional police returns to the courts, with further investigative steps and a possible trial now back on the table.

The court has upheld the appeals and ordered the proceedings to continue against the three officers investigated for allegedly assisting Puigdemont's flight.

According to the court decision reported from the case file, the appeals were lodged by the public prosecutor and by Vox, the far-right party acting as a private prosecutor in the proceedings. The Audiencia de Barcelona overturned the previous ruling that had dismissed the case.

Case centres on events in Barcelona on 8 August 2024

The investigation relates to the day Puigdemont returned to Barcelona and then left before he could be arrested. The three officers are accused of having facilitated that departure.

A Barcelona investigating court had shelved the case on 27 April, finding insufficient grounds to continue proceedings against the officers. That decision has now been revoked by the Audiencia de Barcelona, which found there were grounds for the investigation to continue.

  • Date of the events under investigation: Thursday 8 August 2024
  • Date the case was shelved by the lower court: 27 April 2026
  • Date the reopening was reported: 7 July 2026

What happens next in the judicial process

The case now returns to the lower investigating court in Barcelona, which will have to resume proceedings in line with the provincial court's order. That can include reactivating evidence-gathering and deciding whether the facts justify sending the case to trial.

For the officers involved, the reopening does not amount to a conviction. It means the investigation remains active and the court must continue examining whether there is enough evidence to pursue criminal charges.

Puigdemont's wider legal position is separate from this case. The reopened proceedings concern only the alleged role of the three Mossos officers in his departure from Barcelona on 8 August 2024.

Primary sources: svc_wsgendoc. Reported by Source Text Link, Por Andrea de Lucas Agregar Infobae en Agrega Infobae a tus medios preferidos en Google, Dani Cordero, larazon.es, Vozpópuli, Pablo Planas, NTM, Marina Gonzalez Yuste, catalannews.com, Marta Sánchez Iranzo, Mayte Piulachs, Martí Odriozola i Marcé, Ot Serra, Euractiv, VilaWeb Feed.