Imprisonment of Catalan leaders ‘unique situation in Europe,’ says former ad hoc judge for Human Rights court

Renate Weber, a Romanian MEP and former ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, said that the imprisonment of Catalan leaders “is very difficult to understand” and a “unique situation in Europe.”

In an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN), Weber stated that she’s never seen a situation like this before, and added that she is disappointed with the European Union’s attitude: “More should have been done to achieve dialogue and get the parties involved to sit at the same table and find solutions."

While Weber acknowledged that bringing the case against pro-independence leaders to the ECHR would be a viable option, she stressed that it would probably be a “very long” process. “A case like that could last several years: three, five, seven… it’s really a lot of time,” she said. 

The best scenario, she expressed, would be for Catalonia and Spain to negotiate a common solution: “When faced with political problems, if you only use judicial means, you don’t necessarily solve the situation, but divide society even more.”