Court opens criminal proceedings against ex-mayor over suspension of Barcelona-Tel Aviv ties
Judge accepts lawyer's complaint that Ada Colau may have knowingly issued an unjust decree
The judiciary has opened criminal proceedings against the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, for temporarily suspending relations with Israel, including the twinning agreements between the Catalan capital and Tel Aviv.
As first reported by eldiario.es and confirmed to the Catalan News Agency (ACN) by sources close to the case, a judge has accepted a complaint filed by lawyer Francesc Jufresa, which claims that Colau and Barcelona City Council's then head of Global Justice and International Cooperation could have committed the crime of prevarication, which in Spanish law refers to public officials who knowingly issue an unfair or unjust decision.
The former mayor took the decision to suspend ties on February 9, in response to the "apartheid" experienced by the Palestinian people and the "decades of systematic violations of human rights."
Foreign policy
The case was initially brought to Spain's National Court, on the understanding that the effects of the alleged crime took place in another country, Israel, but that court determined that the Barcelona judiciary had the authority to determine whether a criminal case should be heard.
The main argument from lawyer Jufresa is that Barcelona City Council does not have the authority to make decisions that affect foreign policy, as those powers lie with the Spanish government.
The complaint places special emphasis on the fact that Colau did not have the authority to formally break relations with Israel, although in fact the decree that was passed referred only to the twinning agreement with Tel Aviv.
The lawyer's petition also claims that that Colau may have committed a hate crime, arguing that the letter she wrote to Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu contained anti-Semitic references and claims that Israel was a racist state.
Controversial decision
Colau's decision to suspend the twinning arrangement with Tel Aviv ended the friendship agreement signed by the Socialist mayor Joan Clos in 1998. Colau took the decision after the Prou Complicitat (Enough Complicity) platform presented a petition with more than 4,000 signatures and the support of 80 organizations.
The move generated discrepancies within the local government, as the then partners of Colau's Barcelona en Comú, the Socialists, were against it.
In fact, apart from Barcelona en Comú, all parties on the council voted against it, except for Esquerra who abstained, but Colau pushed the measure forward via a mayoral decree.