New €90.000 “political” fine against two Catalan civil society organizations

Barcelona (CNA).- The Spanish government is politically persecuting the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, warned these two organizations on Tuesday. The Spanish Data Protection Agency is asking each group to pay a €90,000 fine for having a non-operative database in the United States while a new international protocol for data stored in this country was being drafted. The fine comes after the Spanish authorities levied an earlier €240,000 fine against these two organizations, widely known in Catalonia for organizing huge demonstrations in favor of independence. The ANC and Òmnium say that they are being financially strangled simply because they promote the organization of an independence referendum.

These two civil society organizations pointed out that in February they also had €240,000 automatically removed from their bank accounts by the State, in addition to the €90,000 announced on Tuesday. “This is a clear example of the way the Spanish State has been going after pro-sovereignty organizations for months,” they warned in a statement. According to the ANC and Òmnium, the sanctions are “extraordinary” and are aimed at them simply because they are “promoting a referendum”.

The two civil society organizations noted that databases such as the one for which they have been fined are being used without trouble by other companies and organizations. They also stressed that they have always followed the law. For that reason, ANC and Òmnium are planning to appeal the sanction.