New trial of 2017 Catalan parliament bureau members to start on March 14

The Catalan High Court will try, once again, the 2017 Catalan parliament bureau members from March 14 to 16, after a lack of impartiality from two judges forced the procedure to be repeated.

The Spanish Supreme Court ruled in mid-November that the court case affecting the former members of the Parliament bureau should be repeated.

The politicians were banned from holding public office for 20 months after being found guilty of disobedience defying orders from Spain’s Constitutional Court and allowing Catalan MPs to vote on laws pursuing independence that had been deemed illegal. Additionally, they were fined €30,000 each. 

Simó, Corominas, Guinó, and Barrufet all appealed the ruling after the sentence, alleging a lack of impartiality, a point that the Spanish Supreme Court agreed with. 

For them, the right to a fair trial was violated by judges Jesús María Barrientos and Carlos Ramos, the Supreme Court ruled, as the two magistrates had previously explicitly expressed their opinions on the matter. 

Former CUP MP Mireia Boya, who was also judged in that trial, did not appeal because she was acquitted.