Parliament Speaker vows 'not to stay passive' after lawsuit against judges dismissed

The speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, said on Tuesday that he won't "do nothing" and "stay passive" after the Spanish Supreme Court dismissed his lawsuit against three judges dealing with the independence case.

Torrent claimed that the Supreme Court magistrates had violated the political rights of MPs and were guilty of breach of official duty and perversion of justice by not allowing them to attend plenary debates or run for president. The jailed MPs are able to vote by proxy, but are not allowed to leave prison to vote or attend debates.

One of them was not allowed to attend his investiture debate despite being the presidential candidate, while another was imprisoned in the middle of his own investiture debate, and was therefore unable to attend the second round of votes that could have elected him president.

The parliament speaker suggested that the form issues used by the Spanish Supreme Court to dismiss the lawsuit were an "excuse" not to deal with the claims. Torrent said that his team will now study what steps to take next and did not rule out presenting another lawsuit.

The lawsuit was issued on behalf of the Parliament after the bureau agreed to denounce the Spanish Supreme Court "intromission" into parliamentary affairs. However, opposition parties rejected the move, saying they didn't want the institution to get involved in this debate, as, in their view, it should remain neutral. Torrent, meanwhile, has always defended that this was a move aimed at protecting "political rights" of all MPs.