The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has accepted for processing the appeals of the nine prisoners of the process, convicted in October 2019 for the preparations for 1-O for the crimes of sedition and – some – for embezzlement.
The ECtHR already has other cases related to the independence leaders on the table and has now given the Kingdom of Spain until January 12, 2024 to present allegations.
The appeals of the 1-O leaders have reached the ECHR after exhausting the avenue in Spain, after the Constitutional Court denied them protection.
The pro-independence leaders, among others, have alleged before the ECHR that they have seen Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention violated, in reference to the rights of freedom of expression and assembly. 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 sedition and therefore being suspended and losing their membership records.
In the case of Jordi Turull, who became a candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, he also alleges that he suffered an abuse of rights 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 provisional imprisonment, the plaintiff had to renounce his candidacy and was deprived of the exercise of his rights as a parliamentarian,” he alleges in his appeal.
