Catalan president: 'Repealing sedition makes it more difficult to persecute the independence movement'

The Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, welcomed the reform of the crime of sedition in the Spanish criminal code, which will be replaced by "aggravated public disorder," as announced by Spain's PM, Pedro Sánchez, on Thursday. 

Addressing the press on Friday morning, Aragonès said that "repealing sedition makes it more difficult to unfairly persecute the independence movement."

He added that this is the result of "perseverance" in the ongoing "dialogue table" talks with Spain on issues stemming from the 2017 push for independence. 

Indeed, in the latest meeting between governments, held in late July, both sides agreed to move towards "the end of judicialization," that is, focusing on politics and not courts to find a way forward.

Amnesty and self-determination

While Aragonès views the amendment announced by Sánchez favorably, he also said that he will still ask for an amnesty that aims to dismiss any ongoing legal cases stemming from the independence push that peaked in 2017, the year of the referendum.

Also, he said he is still "committed to the right to decide as the way to resolve the political conflict with Spain," referring to the long-standing demand for an internationally-recognized Scotland-like independence referendum negotiated with Madrid.

Aragonès said his cabinet will also continue to work on spreading awareness of the issue abroad.

"Today marks an important step towards the end of repression and towards building the resolution of the political conflict with Spain using the most essential values of democracy."

'Supreme Court did not find referendum leaders guilty of public disorder'

Answering questions from journalists, Aragonès said that the new crime of aggravated public disorder will carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail and pointed out that the 2017 referendum trial, held in 2019, found the leaders guilty of sedition but not of public disorder. "And now they will not change their opinion," he said of the judges. 

While the convicted leaders have since been pardoned and released, their pardons can still be reversed and they are still serving a decade-long disqualification from public office.

The amended criminal code could also have an impact on the exiled leaders. 

On Thursday, Sánchez made it clear that the former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, who has been in exile in Brussels ever since the failed declaration of independence of 2017 in order to avoid sitting in the dock in Spain, would still have to "face justice" if he were to return.

Puigdemont is not only being wanted in Spain for sedition but also for misuse of public funds, which could imply prison.

Likewise, the leader of the Socialists in Catalonia, Salvador Illa, said that the new reformed law "doesn't decriminalize anything, it doesn't offer any amnesty" to any pro-independence politician.

"It's simply a sensible, from our point of view, update of the penal code that takes into account [the independence push in] 2017 and brings us closer to European standards," Illa added.

3 to 5 years in jail for aggravated public disorder

The maximum penalty for the new crime of aggravated public disorder, which will replace sedition, will be three to five years in jail.

On Friday, Senior Socialist MP Patxi López explained the details of the amendment announced by Spain's PM, which will also include a six to eight-year disqualification for those found guilty of the new crime.

The representative said that the reform of the criminal code may facilitate the extradition of exiled Catalan leaders, such as former president Carles Puigdemont.

"Those who are abroad will be eligible to be sought," he added.