Madrid is ‘breaching its official duty,’ says jailed minister

Deposed and jailed Catalan minister Jordi Turull has accused the Spanish government of “failing in its official duty” by blocking the formation of a government. Turull is one of four nominated ministers either in prison or abroad that Madrid refuses to accept, therefore preventing the whole cabinet from taking office for over a week. “We have every right, preventing our release in order to take office is the way they’ve chosen to sideline us from politics,” he said in an interview with the Catalan newspaper Ara.

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, is considering filing a lawsuit against his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy, for breaching his official duty. Torra has asked a court to put urgent precautionary measures in place so that he can form a government. So far he is not considering appointing four other ministers who might be more to Madrid’s liking. “It has to be the Catalan president who decides who his ministers are, for institutional dignity, and not Rajoy or Llarena [the judge in charge of the independence case],” said Turull. “We want to be part of the solution, not the problem,” he added.