‘Catalans will not be humiliated,’ says Puigdemont

Carles Puigdemont, dismissed as president of the country after Spain enforced Article 155 of its consitution, effectively stripping Catalonia of its autonomy has spoken out on Friday’s judicial events, in what was an intense day in the Spanish courts.

He warned Spain that Catalans will “not allow themselves to be subjected or humiliated,” in a statement made after the sentencing to prison of pro-independence officials Jordi Turull (the presidential candidate,) Josep Rull, Dolors Bassa, Carme Forcadell, and Raül Romeva.

“Now is not the moment to surrender, but one of firmness and conviction,” the Junts per Catalunya leader, currently in Finland, said on Friday evening.

Imprisonment, he affirmed, is the result of “a state of revenge, not of law,” expressing his disdain at the Spanish Supreme Court’s ruling, which resulted in Turull, the third proposed presidential candidate since the election, being imprisoned once again, even though he had already spent a month behind bars last year before being released on bail.

Puigdemont himself was the first candidate, but stepped aside after his bid was blocked, paving the way for Jordi Sànchez, who has been in prison for five months, to be invested. However, the Spanish judicial blocked his bid as well, and did not allow him to leave prison in order to attend the investiture debate. He therefore withdrew his bid, and Jordi Turull became next in line to become the next president in the country.

This prompted the calling of a last minute swearing in session by pro-independence parties held on Thursday, over fears that Turull would be sent to prison on Friday. Due to the far-left CUP's abstention, he did not get enough votes to be instated. After a long day in the Parliament, Turull, alongside the other officials being investigated for their roles in the push for independence, had to travel to Madrid in the middle of the night where, on Friday, he was sentenced to jail again. 

In response to the day’s proceedings, Puigdemont took to Twitter to announce that he will hold an “urgent meeting” with advisers who are with him abroad in order to analyse a “new offensive” against the Spanish state.

“It is the time to remind ourselves how far we have come, because we have always followed the path of democracy, respect, and peace,” he also said. 

Arrest warrant

After the Spanish judge’s decision on Friday, the Spanish Supreme Court is to issue European and International arrest warrants against Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and five other pro-independence politicians currently abroad. The arrest warrants will affect Puigdemont, the deposed ministers Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret, currently in Belgium, his Education minister Clara Ponsatí, who is now living in Scotland, and the secretary-general of the Esquerra Republicana party, Marta Rovira. They are all prosecuted for rebellion for their role in the independence process and face more than 30 years in jail.

The Spanish Supreme Court published the indictments in the independence case, which affects a total of 25 officials that will have to face trial.