Amnesty and self-determination, parliamentary response to upcoming jailed leaders’ verdict

Seeking an amnesty and exercising the right to self-determination are the responses the Catalan parliament has decided on for the upcoming potential guilty verdict for the leaders behind the 2017 independence referendum.

The majority of lawmakers in the chamber passed a motion asking for “an agreement for self-determination, amnesty and political and civil rights.”

The motion was approved by the three pro-independence groups in Parliament, Junts per Catalunya, Esquerra and CUP.

The same groups have also passed another motion accepting “the legitimacy of civil and institutional disobedience as a means to defend the civil, political and social rights that can be violated.”

These parties’ lawmakers also passed another text requesting that the Spanish Guardia Civil police, in charge of Monday’s arrests leading to the precautionary detention of seven people on terrorism charges, be removed from Catalonia. 

Spanish government responds

The Spanish government announced on Thursday evening that it wants to "challenge and take legal action" against these parliamentary motions.

Although sources have stated that the government wishes to proceed down this route, it is not yet clear when exactly this is to take place.