European Court of Human Rights begins analyzing appeals for convicted referendum leaders

The European Court of Human Rights has started to analyze the appeals from the nine Catalan politicians and activists convicted for their roles in the October 1, 2017 independence referendum.

The court in Strasbourg has given Spain until January 12 to answer a series of questions regarding alleged violations of fundamental human rights presented by the pro-independence leaders, who were granted pardons in 2021 after spending three to four years in prison.

Among the questions, Spanish authorities will have to answer if the Supreme Court applied an "unforeseeable interpretation and expanded the crimes of sedition and misuse of public funds" as the convicted pro-independence leaders claim. 

The fact that the court has posed questions to the Spanish authorities does not mean that they have accepted the appeals, but rather that they are being analyzed after a "preliminary assessment of admissibility."

More specifically, the convicted referendum leaders claim that their imprisonment was "disproportionate" and that the sentence "interfered with their political rights."