Retrial of 2017 parliament bureau members gets underway
Four politicians had been disqualified from office for allowing votes on independence in chamber
Four politicians had been disqualified from office for allowing votes on independence in chamber
Corominas, Simó, Guinó, and Barrufet convicted by Catalan High Court for disobedience for allowing MPs to vote on independence laws in 2017
5 former MPs argue that preventing debates on independence in chamber would have been 'censorship'
20-month disqualification requested for five former MPs for permitting debates and votes on independence in chamber
Postponed court date set as state of alarm lifted in Catalonia
Which courts are handling them, who the defendants are, and what they're charged with
Five Catalan leaders accused of disobedience appear in Madrid court
Lluís Corominas and Ramona Barrufet, MPs from the liberal PDeCAT party and members of the Parliament Bureau, testified before the court this Friday in relation to the debate on independence in the Chamber that they allowed to take place. They are accused of disobedience and perversion of justice, the same crimes which Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and two other members of the Chamber are accused of. Corominas and Barrufet appealed to the principle of parliamentary immunity which says they cannot be sued. On Monday, Forcadell and the Parliament’s first secretary, Anna Simó, used the same argument when they testified before the High Court. The last member of the Parliament Bureau to be brought before the court will be Joan Josep Nuet, an MP from the alternative left coalition ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’. He is due to testify on June 12.
Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor presented this Thursday a new lawsuit against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and the three members of the Parliament’s Bureau which belong to governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, that is to say Anna Simó, Lluis Corominas and Ramona Barrufet. They are accused of disobedience and perversion of justice for allowing the Chamber to vote on the proposal for a referendum. However, the Public Prosecutor didn’t bring any action against Joan Josep Nuet, also a member of the Parliament’s Bureau, after considering that he didn’t aim to launch any “political project which disrespects the Constitution of 1978”. This is the second lawsuit against Forcadell presented by the Public Prosecutor and is expected to be added to her prosecution for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July.