Parliament Bureau meets to discuss lawsuit
The speaker plans to take action against the Spanish Supreme Court for denying presidential candidate to attend his own swearing-in session
At 10:30am on Friday morning, the Catalan Parliament Bureau held a meeting to formally discuss presenting a lawsuit to the Spanish Supreme Court. The reason is the same as the plenary called for that day being postponed. On Thursday, the Supreme Court denied a request by jailed Catalan presidential candidate, Jordi Sànchez, to be allowed to attend his swearing-in debate either in person or via video call.
Sànchez has been in prison in the Madrid region since last October, accused of sedition for his role as leader of the grassroots organization Catalan National Assembly (ANC) for the run-up to the declaration of independence that year. This is Sànchez’s second attempt to be appointed. In the first instance, the Spanish judiciary reacted in the same manner to the same request, but this time, the demand follows a statement by the UN Human Rights Committee, urging Spain to protect the Catalan leader’s political rights.
Still, the Spanish judiciary chose not to do so, claiming that the statement was “non-binding.” For his part, Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent is now studying a prospective lawsuit against Pablo Llarena, the judge presiding over the case. He announced this shortly after the Supreme Court made its decision, and the lawsuit is expected to be supported by pro-independence forces Junts per Cataunya (JxCat, Sànchez’s candidacy), and Esquerra Republicana (ERC, Torrent’s party).
The Spanish Justice Minister, Rafael Catalá, criticized Torrent's decision. "I think they're making a mistake, trying to intimidate or threaten a judge," he expressed in an interview on Friday morning. Pushback also came from the unionist Ciutadans party (C’s) the evening before, when they spoke before the press to announce that they, in turn, plan to file a lawsuit against that of Torrent.
The C's spokesperson criticized pro-independence forces by insisting that “they just want to continue with the mess.” He further claimed that the situation “shows very clearly” that “they have no project, they have no plan, they have no candidate, they have nothing.” Regards Torrent’s lawsuit, C’s deemed it as an “illegitimate use of public funds” which “can be pursued legally.” As a reaction, he vowed C’s would do “everything possible” to fight it.