State attorney denounces unionist appeal against pardons for independence leaders

Spain’s state attorney general's office has denounced the appeal against the pardons for the 2017 independence referendum organizers launched by unionist party Ciudadanos (Cs) as “personal,” and considers that the arguments go against “public interest.”

According to the lawyer, who will ask that the appeal not be accepted, Cs uses the term 'political reasons' in a "pejorative" manner. 

The state's attorney "does not share" this interpretation of the term and accuses Cs of forgetting "both the genesis of the pardon" and the "history" of the pardon measure.

Political leaders and activists who held significant roles in the Catalan government and civic entities during the peak of the independence crisis in 2017 were jailed for their roles in holding the referendum deemed illegal in 2019. In 2021, they were given a pardon by the Spanish government and were released from their jails.

Political opponents to the pro-independence camp have since launched various appeals against the release of the leaders.

The attorney has also rejected the arguments that Cs said that those convicted did not request the pardon or showed any remorse. The lawyer also denied Ciudadanos' claim that the prosecutors' office and the court are against the measure. 

The importance of the court and the prosecutors' office opinions is that "neither of both is binding but recommendations." 

Ciudadanos are "not considered direct or indirect judicial victims, and they did not take part in the judicial process against the now pardoned," the state's attorney concludes.