prosecution

Civil disobedience, peaceful means, calls for dialogue, lack of dialogue from Madrid, among arguments set to be used by jailed leaders' lawyers

Attorney general ordered the investigation of 75% of Catalonia's top local authorities

Prosecutor to file charges of disobedience and breach of official duty against members of Parliament Bureau for bringing referendum law to floor

The Catalan capital’s city council sends letters showing “deep concern” about the situation of the press in Erdogan’s regime

Nuet is accused of disobedience and perversion of justice for allowing a debate on independence

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.

The APPG group on Catalonia, created last March in the British Parliament by MPs from the main parties in Westminster, have sent a letter to Spain’s President, Mariano Rajoy, expressing their “concern” over the prosecution of the Catalan Parliament’s president, Carme Forcadell, who faces court “for simply permitting the debate” on independence in the Chamber. The signers consider it “a clear breach of the fundamental democratic right to free speech” and “urge” the Spanish Government “to drop the prosecution”. Forcadell was brought before the court in December accused of disobedience for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote among the Catalan MPs on the 27th of July and will face trial again on Monday for the same case.

Representatives from several pro-independence civil society organisations joined Parliament President, Carme Forcadell, on her way to the Court. Forcadell testified this Friday for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July. Pro-independence grass-roots organisations the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM) highlighted the wide support for the representative. Indeed, the President of AMI, Neus Lloveras, said that the backing for Forcadell was a “demonstration of the unity and strength” of the pro-independence movement in Catalonia. The president of the ANC, Jordi Sànchez, deemed Forcadell’s prosecution “absolutely unjustified” and the president of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, said Catalonia is facing “a critical hour” and has to show “unity and firmness”.

“What happened today is inconceivable in a truly democratic state”, lamented this Friday the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. In a press conference soon after testifying before Catalonia's Supreme Court for allowing a debate on independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27^th of July, Forcadell said that she considered her trial “another step” towards the Spanish State’s attempt to “violate the separation of powers”. Thus, from her point of view, what is really at stake with her trial is “democracy” rather than “the political future of a single person”. As a response, the Spanish Government’s Spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo warned that “saying that justice is not independent in the Spanish State is not only false but unfair towards the judges” and emphasised that “there is no impunity in Spain”.

Thousands of citizens have expressed their support for Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, who faces trial on Friday for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote amongst the Catalan MPs. The main civil society pro-independence associations, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and also the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM) have called on citizens to hit the streets throughout Catalonia to support Forcadell. One of the main rallies took place on Barcelona’s Sant Jaume Square, which is between the Catalan Government’s headquarters, Palau de la Generalitat, and the Catalan capital’s City Hall. The prosecution of Forcadell and the judicial response of the Spanish Government to Catalonia’s pro-independence aspiration have also provoked international rejection and criticism across Europe.

Left wing pro-independence ERC MEP, Josep Maria Terricabras and Catalan European Democratic Party PDeCAT MEP, Ramon Tremosa have urged the EU to respond to the prosecution of the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. “Don’t let Spain undermine with all impunity our democratic and fundamental European rights”, stated Tremosa during Monday’s plenary session in the Euro chamber. The debate, held in Strasbourg, included the presence of EU Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourová, whom Tremosa called on not to be “indifferent to the actions of the Spanish State against Catalan democratic politicians”. Forcadell will be summonsed on Friday by the Spanish authorities for allegedly breaking Spain’s Constitution when allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote in the Catalan Chamber, last July. Forcadell could potentially be debarred from office and face a fine. 

The Foreign Affairs spokesperson of Irish Republicans Sinn Féin, Seán Crowe, has expressed his party’s concerns regarding the prosecution of the Catalan Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote in the Catalan Chamber. In a communiqué published this Monday on Crowe’s personal website and that of Sinn Féin, the Irish politician wrote that he considers Forcadell’s summonsing “hugely concerning” and warned that her prosecution and potential debarment from public office “puts at risk the very democratic standards that people hold dear throughout the world”. Thus, he calls for the Spanish Government to “reconsider” its position “even at this late stage” and warns that that the executive led by the conservative People’s Party “cannot stifle, ignore, or ban the democratic demands” of the Catalan people.

15 British MPs from different political parties presented an ‘Early Day Motion’ this Thursday to the House of Commons to express their “concern” about the prosecution of the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell. The document, promoted by Scottish National Party (SNP) MP, George Kerevan, warns that Forcadell “could be subject to debarment from public office” for “allowing a parliamentary debate” and believes that “regardless of the constitutional legalities involved” the situation is not only “regrettable” but also “sets a dangerous precedent”. Therefore, the signers urge the Spanish Government “to reconsider the prosecution” and find “a resolution to its disagreement with the Catalan Parliament through mutual dialogue”. In a press statement, Kerevan also describes the controversy as “a clear case of free speech” and feels that the trial “would only create ill-feeling in Catalonia”.