summonsed

Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, will have to testify before Barcelona’s High Court on Monday along with former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau for allowing the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. In several appearances before the press this past Sunday, Mas insisted that he has “nothing to apologise for” and that the three whom have been summonsed face the trial “calmly and in good spirit” but also “moved and grateful for the people’s support”. “They wanted us on our knees, but they will find us standing”, he said. “It is a shameful trial, it is absolutely against democracy”, he said and pointed out that the “success of the 9-N and its high turnout” is what drove the case to the court. Mas, Ortega and Rigau are accused of criminal disobedience and breach of trust for holding the non-binding referendum and could receive a 10-year ban on holding public office if convicted.

The five pro-independence activists who burned pictures of the King of Spain will testify on Tuesday at 9 am (CET time) before Spain’s High Court, the ‘Audiencia Nacional’, in Madrid. The Catalan Police Force, Mossos d’Esquadra, has already arrested three of them and will detain the remaining two and hand them over to the Spanish Guardia Civil during the course of the day. Mossos d’Esquadra acted following the orders of the Spanish Court. The judge investigating the five people for an alleged crime against the crown, Fernando Andreu, decided to order the arrest after those activists who are now to be prosecuted refused to testify by videoconference last Wednesday. This case fuels once again tensions between the radical left pro-independence CUP and the governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel sí’ (JxSí) over the action of the Catalan Police Force. Indeed, CUP has already announced it will request the resignation of the Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, for allowing Mossos d’Esquadra to be subordinated to the Spanish courts.

Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor requested this Monday 10 years of ineligibility for public office for the former Catalan President, Artur Mas, for organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. Judges Francisco Bañeres and Emilio Sánchez Ulled also demanded a 9-year ban for the two other public figures summonsed over the same case, former Vice President Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau. According to the judges, the three summonsed were “fully aware” that by preparing the non-binding consultation “they were breaking the mandatory rulings of the Spanish Constitutional Court” which urged the Catalan executive to stop the process four days before the 9-N took place. Mas considered the whole case “a chain of nonsense” and assured that “it is an honour to be sentenced by a Spanish State which doesn’t respect the separation of powers”.

Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) has dismissed this Thursday the appeals filed by former Catalan President Artur Mas, former Vice-President Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister of Education Irene Rigau against their prosecution for alleged crimes of disobedience and administrative prevarication when organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. The Court magistrates believe that it is necessary to go on with the prosecution of the defendants for having authorised and co-organised the consultation, which took place on 9 November 2014. In its resolution, the TSJC insists on the “conscious resistance” of the three politicians to the Spanish Constitutional Court’s suspension of the participatory process. The resolution arrives three days before former Catalan Minister for Presidency, Francesc Homs, is due to testify in Madrid for the same cause.

Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, along with former Catalan Vice President, Joana Ortega and former Minister for Education, Irene Rigau won’t be accused for misappropriation of public funds in relation to the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. This is what the public prosecutor announced this Monday, after considering that the expenses related to the non-binding consultation were made before the suspension enacted by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Nevertheless, the attorneys asked Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) to ignore the accused defences’ petition to file the case and summon the trio for the other crimes included in the lawsuit, which are alleged disobedience and perversion of justice.