Parliament Greens/EFA group Co-President Ska Keller (Germany) strongly denounced the sentences handed down by the Spanish Supreme Court to the nine Catalan separatists for sedition, embezzlement of public funds and disobedience, up to 13 years in prison, on Monday 14 October.
“After 2 years of unfair pre-trial detention, we consider the ruling of the Supreme Court against our MEP Oriol Junqueras [elected from the Greens/EFA list, but banned from sitting in the European Parliament – see EUROPE 12277/16] and the other Catalan leaders made public today as disproportionate and they will only serve to deepen the political crisis in Catalonia”, said the German MEP. In her view, the situation in Catalonia requires a political solution that should under no circumstances be dealt with by the courts. She also called on the Spanish government to immediately release the convicted independence fighters.
On the same day, Alfred Bosch, Advisor for External Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Generalitat of Catalonia, once again denounced the “political” trial to which the nine Catalans are subjected. Their conviction constitutes a “historical error”, according to him. He also denounced the attitude of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who, in his view, had done nothing to open the dialogue. Mr Bosch once again calls on the international community to find a political solution.
New European arrest warrant against Mr Puigdemont
The political response was not long in coming. On the same day, in the wake of the convictions, in a televised speech, Mr Sánchez called for “a new step forward”, indicating to the Catalan independence government that he was “ready to contribute to the dialogue within the framework of constitutional legality”. At the same time, the Supreme Court issued a new European and international arrest warrant against the former separatist president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carlos Puigdemont.
Of the nine convictions out of 12 people under arrest, Oriol Junqueras, former vice-president of the Generalitat of Catalonia and head of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), was the hardest hit, receiving a 13-year sentence for sedition and embezzlement of public funds.
The Supreme Court dropped the charge of rebellion (which underlies an attempt at a violent coup d'état), with a sentence of up to 25 years possible for the Catalans (see EUROPE 12347/16). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)