UN ruling defending candidate’s rights a ‘lie’, says unionist party leader
Cs party head dismisses international calls urging Spanish authorities to allow Jordi Sànchez to attend investiture debate
There is no UN text allowing jailed activist Jordi Sànchez to be sworn in as Catalan president, according to the leader of the main unionist party in Parliament. On Monday, the head of the Ciutadans (Cs) party, Inés Arrimadas, called the suggestion that the United Nations ordered the Spanish authorities to let Sànchez out of prison so as to attend the Catalan parliament “another lie” by the pro-independence camp.
The Cs leader’s comments came after the Catalan Parliament speaker, Roger Torrent, called a session on Friday to swear in Sànchez, and sent a letter to the Supreme Court judge in charge of his case asking him to allow Sànchez out of jail so he can attend. In his letter, Torrent refers to a ruling by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on March 23 that urges the Spanish authorities to take “all necessary measures to ensure the political rights” of Sànchez.
Yet, Arrimadas dismissed the UN committee’s statement as merely a “notification of receipt” after Sànchez’s lawyers appealed to the international body when the Supreme Court turned down his request to be allowed out of prison to attend his first investiture debate. The Cs leader went on to criticize Torrent, accusing his decision to convoke another investiture for Sànchez as a “tool to increase the confrontation and victimism.”
Torrent nominated Sànchez as the presidential candidate after holding a round of talks with Catalonia’s political parties last week. In his letter to the Supreme Court judge, Torrent refers to the state authority’s “obligation” to heed the injunctions of the UN committee. The speaker also warns the judge that failing to comply would cause “irreparable damage to the political rights of the MP Jordi Sànchez, and the State would not be fulfilling its international obligations.”
The UN committee on Human Rights urged Spain on March 23 to "take all necessary measures to ensure that Mr. Jordi Sánchez can exercise his political rights". The decision was taken a an "interim measure" while the committee considers Sánchez's case.