Colonel who led Catalan referendum clampdown is made a general of the Spanish army

Promotion for the paramilitary officer who was responsible for Spain's widely-criticised response to the Catalan independence referendum last October 1st: Diego Pérez de los Cobos, colonel in the Civil Guard and the coordinator of the three police bodies that were tasked with responding to Catalonia's independence vote last year, will be promoted to the rank of general in the next few days and given a command in Madrid.

Pérez de los Cobos will thus leave his current posting in Spain's interior ministry if his promotion is confirmed. In his new position at the Command of the Armed Institute, based in the Madrid town of Tres Cantos, he is to have 4,000 officers under his control.

Last Thursday, the colonel denied under oath that on the day of the referendum there was any police violence. Look yourself to the pictures below.