International experts say Catalan trial undermines self-determination

A group of international experts has accused the Spanish authorities of failing to protect the rights of Catalans and of using the trial of independence leaders in the Supreme Court to undermine the right to self-determination.

The experts took part in an event on Tuesday evening organized by the pro-independence civic group, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), as part of an initiative from the Ombudsman to draw up a plan for human rights in Catalonia.

The conclusions will be passed to the parliament. According to Ralph Bunche, secretary general of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), the government needs its own plan on human rights because the Spanish executive is "insufficient."

Daniel Turp, head of the Research Institute on Self-Determination of Peoples and National Independence (IRAI) pointed out that "the right of self-determination belongs to peoples, not states," and that it is the Catalan people who should "decide their political status."

Turp also announced that his organization would publish a new report on the independence trial next week, showing that there has been "a clear violation of the rights" of the defendants. "It has not been a fair trial," he added.

As for ANC head, Elisenda Paluzie, she said that the right to self-determination is "a fundamental right" that should be "updated" in the human rights plan to include "new concepts" that take the changes in today's world into consideration.