One day after the meeting of the dialogue table between the Government and the Generalitat, the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, has been in favor of addressing the reform of the Penal Code to change the crime of sedition. “Penal codes have to adapt to the reality of what happens in the 21st century and the crime of rebellion and sedition are designed for a totally different context typical of the 19th or 20th century,” she pointed out in an interview on Telecinco.
The minister and magistrate, little inclined to support the independence theses, thus opens a door to the landing of this debate in Congress. “These crimes were raised rather for contexts of dictatorships, she-she has reminded her-of rebellions or seditions with the use of weapons, and therefore a reform can be proposed as a result of parliamentary debate. If in this parliamentary sphere it is considered that a crime does not correspond to the social reality of the 21st century, there is no problem in changing it”.
Although the “Agreement to overcome judicialization” approved by both executives at the dialogue table does not refer to specific legal reforms, the possibility and how changes in the Penal Code should be considered were addressed at the meeting. This will be one of the main issues to be resolved in the coming months since the reforms, according to the agreement, must be carried out before the end of the year.
The question raised by Robles, and the ministers of the Executive, is the reform of the crime of sedition, not its elimination. And this is a relevant element to be able to build up sufficient parliamentary support – an absolute majority – so that the reform can be carried out in the Congress of Deputies.
Margarita Robles has pointed out that the Criminal Code has to be something alive, “that responds to a social reality at a given time, we should not be afraid of debates”. The reform of the crime of sedition -which is now punishable by up to 15 years- could facilitate the return of former president Carles Puigdemont and the ministers weighing on the European orders issued by Judge Pablo Llarena
Also today the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, who was part of the dialogue table yesterday, has indicated that we must reflect on the crime of rebellion and sedition since “they do not have accommodation or legal harmonization in the European comparative framework.” The Podemos group had already spoken out in favor of these reforms, and Díaz has also supported the reform of the Gag Law. An issue that the Government has also put on the negotiating table.
The agreement to overcome the judicialization signed at the dialogue table advocates “gradual and concrete advances (…) representative of a broad and transversal majority. They must be specified in legislative, normative, regulatory reforms (…) taking as a reference the best European and international standards and recommendations”.
