Judge to not allow jailed Catalan leader to be presidential candidate, say reports

The Spanish Supreme Court will not allow Jordi Sànchez to leave prison and take part in the parliamentary debate to swear in a Catalan president in case he is the one nominated for the post. This, according to the Spanish newspaper La Razón. Sànchez has been in pre-trial prison since October 16, 2017 for his role as a grassroots leader in the events leading up to the independence referendum. As number 2 of Carles Puigdemont’s candidacy, Junts per Catalunya, in the last December election, Sànchez is one of the names rumored to be proposed for the position. An agreement in the pro-independence bloc including who will be the next president could be reached this week, according to Esquerra Republicana.

Mentioning “judicial sources,”  La Razón newspaper published that the judge might reject a permit to allow Sànchez to attend the Parliament in order to avoid possible “problems of public order.” This might happen “as it is almost certain that a few thousand people would gather outside the Catalan Parliament to support him,” speculates the newspaper. Indeed, the judge in the Supreme Court also rejected the appeal from the jailed Catalan vice president, Oriol Junqueras, to attend Parliament for plenary sessions.

La Razón newspaper cites the same sources to claim that the precedent of an incarcerated MP attending an investiture debate as candidate will not be used for this case. In 1987, a representative in the Basque Parliament was in pre-trial prison accused of being a member of ETA. He was a candidate for president and the Basque Superior Court allowed him to attend the chamber. “A superior court will not indicate what the Spanish Supreme Court has to do,” cites the newspaper.