The Director of the Public Prosecution Office in Catalonia will be fired for supporting a legal self-determination vote

Barcelona (ACN).- The Spanish Government has started the procedure to fire the head of public prosecutors in Catalonia, Martín Rodríguez Sol, for believing that it is “legitimate” to “allow the people the possibility to express what they want”, regarding Catalonia’s self-determination process, although he did not support an independence referendum as such. The Director of the Public Prosecution Office of Spain, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, who is the boss of all public prosecutors in the country and was directly appointed by the Spanish Government, announced on Monday that he is starting the process to dismiss his subordinate in Catalonia, Rodríguez Sol, for the “public statement” made in an interview published on Sunday. Catalonia’s Attorney General said that with the appropriate question that would fit into the legal framework, a vote on Catalonia’s political future could be held, since the people’s will should be respected. In addition, he said that the legal framework should be adapted to social changes. On Monday morning, the day after the interview was published, Rodríguez Sol issued a press release clarifying that he does not support Catalonia’s independence from Spain, in a “direct or indirect” way. However, in the afternoon, his boss, directly named by the Spanish Justice Minister, announced the commencement of the process to dismiss him. As a reaction, the President of the Catalan Government and leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Artur Mas, has accused the Spanish Government “of having little democratic sensibility”. In addition, Mas reminded everybody that another army general threatened last week with a military intervention in Catalonia “and nothing happened, no investigation was opened; but, if an attorney general simply says that the people have the right to express themselves within the legal framework, a process to fire him starts”. “What is Rodríguez Sol’s sin?” wondered the Catalan President.

The first time an Attorney General of an Autonomous Community would be fired

“The people should be allowed to express want they want”, stated Rodríguez Sol in an interview to Europa Press news agency, which was released yesterday. He said he would support a citizen vote if the question respected the existing legal framework and he reminded everybody that the current legal framework would not allow an independence referendum as such. This has been enough for his boss, directly named by the Spanish Government, to start the process to fire him the day after. Now, Rodríguez Sol, a member of the conservative association of prosecutors and appointed Catalan Attorney General last July, will have to appear before the Council of Prosecutors. This body will issue a report and, following this, the Spanish Government intends to fire him. The report is seen as an aesthetic procedure. It will be the first time this has been done in the 34 years of democracy after the end of the Fascist military dictatorial regime and the approval of the current Spanish Constitution. Last September, two months after being appointed, Rodríguez Sol stated that his office “will not be turning its back on reality” and that “he will always serve the citizens and Justice, with a capital letter”.

Legal frameworks should be connected to social realities

Rodríguez Sol said that he considered it to be “legitimate” that the Catalan people wanted to organise a vote to decide on their political future, if it was not an independence referendum as such, because that would not be legal. The Director of the Public Prosecution Office in Catalonia, who was born in Mallorca, suggested that the Catalan people could find alternative questions that would fit into the legal framework. This would allow a legal referendum that might be organised under the Catalan Law on Citizen Vote, currently under debate in the Catalan Parliament. He insisted in the need to always respect the legal framework but he also stated that legal frameworks should be connected to social realities, especially if they represent a wide proportion of the Catalan population. In this vein he said that the Catalan people, “as any other people”, should be allowed “to express what they want”. He added that legislators should be aware they are legislating for the citizens and, therefore, whether the Spanish Constitution is still answering to the current social reality should be analysed.

Rodríguez Sol clarified his statement on Monday morning, before it was announced that he would be fired

Reacting to the controversy his words caused, the morning after the interview was published, Rodríguez Sol issued a press release to clarify he was “not supporting” in a “direct or indirect” way any “secessionist project”. He stated that the Public Prosecutor Office is a single entity within Spain and that, in Catalonia, its “main mission is the defence of the legal framework under the direction of the Director of the Public Prosecutor Office of Spain”. He also added that, currently, a self-determination vote is “not legal”. He also renewed his oath to respect the Constitution and the rest of the legal framework. Less than six hours later, it was announced that he would be fired.

The Spanish Attorney General and the Catalan have previously clashed

Rodríguez Sol and Torres-Dulce previously clashed in late November when the Catalan attorney wanted to investigate the accusations of corruption against the President of the Catalan Government and candidate for re-election for the CiU, Artur Mas, which were based on a falsified document. The accusations implying that Mas had secret accounts in Switzerland were spread by the Spanish nationalist newspaper El Mundo in the last ten days before the Catalan Elections, totally affecting the electoral campaign. Three months later, the Spanish Home Affairs Ministry has still not clarified who falsified the documents. When the Catalan prosecutor announced he would start to investigate the case, Torres-Dulce stopped Rodríguez Sol from doing so.