Supreme Court upholds disobedience sentence for former CUP MP

The Supreme Court has upheld the disobedience sentence of the former CUP MP Pau Juvillà. 

The far-left pro-independence politician was stripped of his MP seat in January 2022 following a High Court ruling the previous December in which he was found guilty of disobedience for not removing yellow ribbons from his office in the Lleida council during an election period.

With the decision, Juvillà has been sentenced to a fine of €1,080, and disqualification from holding public office for 6 months.

Supreme Court judge Juan Ramón Berdugo said that Juvillà "violated the duty of political neutrality" and did so repeatedly because he was notified by the electoral board several times.

Juvillà's case dates back to the 2019 municipal election period, when Juvillà was a Lleida city council member, and he did not remove yellow ribbons from the CUP office in the town hall. 

Since late 2017 following the referendum deemed illegal by Spain, yellow ribbons have come to signal solidarity with the formerly jailed independence leaders as well as those who have moved abroad to avoid being prosecuted for their actions. 

Ciudadanos, a center-right party that is staunchly against splitting with Spain and that used to be Catalonia's largest opposition party, lodged a complaint against Juvillà with the Electoral Board for displaying what they described as partisan symbols during an electoral period.

Despite this, on April 3, 2019, the then-councilor refused to take them down in an act of defiance that led to disobedience charges. The yellow ribbons were eventually taken down by Mossos d'Esquadra police officers.