International observers group to report Catalan trial infringements to UN
Platform to inform Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of court's attempt to "turn democratic conduct into an offense"
International Trial Watch - Catalan Referendum Case (ITW), the platform that coordinates some 30 international observers from 22 organizations, has announced it will present a report on the trial of Catalan independence leaders to the United Nations.
Specifically, the report will go to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC), which periodically examines the human rights performance of all 193 UN member states. Spain is up for review between January and February 2020.
After a month and a half of the trial, ITW representatives say that among its international observers "there is enough consensus to say that it is a political trial," and claims that the court case is an attempt to "turn democratic conduct into an offense."