Four years after the convictions of the leaders of the process, Europe has given the go-ahead to thoroughly review the judicial response to what happened in the fall of 2017 in Catalonia, fully influencing the open debate in Spain about a possible amnesty for all those civilly and criminally prosecuted for these events, on which a possible investiture of Pedro Sánchez largely depends if, as is foreseeable, that of Alberto Núñez Feijóo fails next week.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has accepted for processing the appeals of the nine prisoners of the process, convicted in October 2019 of sedition for the organization of the 1-O referendum, which opens the way for this court, whose function is to ensure respect for human rights in judicial processes, to assess whether the pro-independence leaders, among whom is the former vice president of the Generalitat Oriol Junqueras, had a fair trial in the Supreme Court (TS) and by the who ended up being sentenced to sentences of up to 13 years in prison.
The Government, through the State Attorney’s Office, must speak out, since the State’s legal services will have to take a position on the legality and proportionality of the judicial process opened in the Supreme Court, and which has already been endorsed by the Constitutional Court. And the court based in Strasbourg has set a battery of questions that the parties must answer before January 12. Among other questions, the ECtHR asks Spain if the SC made an extensive application of the crime of sedition contrary to the Human Rights Convention and if those convicted were convicted for exercising their legitimate right to freedom of association and expression. It also raises whether the TS violated the right of defense of those convicted, for having been sentenced without evidence and without having been provided with access to the summary during the process.
The pro-independence leaders, among other things, argued before the ECHR that their rights to freedom of expression and assembly have been violated. Among their arguments, the appellants maintain that the Spanish justice system violated their political rights by denying them the ability to participate in the December 2017 electoral campaign; or not being able to participate in the ordinary activity of the Parliament due to being prosecuted for rebellion, a crime that involves violence and which was ruled out in the sentence, and consequently being suspended and losing their membership records.
In the case of Jordi Turull, who became a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, he alleges that he suffered an abuse of rights by the investigating judge of the case, Pablo Llarena, by sending him to prison to prevent his possible investiture. “His imprisonment was part of a coordinated action by the Spanish public powers so that a prosecuted pro-independence deputy could not access the presidency of Catalonia, since, by virtue of said imprisonment, the plaintiff had to renounce his candidacy,” he alleges. .
The ECtHR’s decision comes at a key moment. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has been working for years to reduce tensions and for reunion in Catalonia and within this framework he approved in June 2021 the pardons for the nine independence leaders who were in prison after being convicted of sedition. It was a partial pardon and they were prevented from being disqualified, which is preventing them from participating in political life. At that time, the amnesty was ruled out as it was an option with certain doubts of unconstitutionality, as was then recognized by the Ministry of Justice, directed at that time by Juan Carlos Campo.
An amnesty that is now back in the spotlight. In this sense, parliamentary sources maintain that starting next week, with the political scenario clearer for the current acting head of the Executive, the final push will be given to the text that emerges from the negotiations between various political actors for this measure that Carles Puigdemont singularly demands. And this occurs in a scenario in which the old socialist guard has made clear its discomfort and its position absolutely against approving this law because it would be like recognizing that Spanish laws are not fair.
