The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has asked all the parties to the trial on 1-O to Josep Maria Jové, Lluís Salvadó and Natàlia Garriga -all of them from ERC-, whose start is scheduled for April 10, that they position themselves on whether the hearing should be postponed to avoid interference with the campaign for the elections to the Parliament on May 12.
In a ruling, of which the president of the TSJC, Jesús María Barrientos, has been the speaker, once it has been refused to remove him from the trial for his criticism of the Amnesty law, the magistrate urges the parties to present, within a maximum period of two days, his opinion on the convenience of postponing the start of the sessions so that their development does not coincide with the Catalan election campaign on May 12.
The electoral campaign is scheduled between April 26 and May 10, which would coincide with several sessions of the trial of Jové – president of the Esquerra parliamentary group -, Lluis Salvadó – current president of the Port of Barcelona – and Natàlia Garriga – councilor of Culture -, the first two accused of embezzlement, prevarication and disobedience, and of this last crime against the councilor, for her role in 1-O, in a case that could be affected by the Amnesty law being processed by the Cortes.
According to the TSJC, a possible postponement of the trial would have the purpose of avoiding “reciprocal interference between the democratic electoral process and the necessary calm that must preside over the holding of the oral trial”, as well as guaranteeing to the extent possible “the full exercise of all the rights at stake”.
In the same ruling, the TSJC has also sent to the parties the briefs filed by the defenses of Lluis Salvadó and Natàlia Garriga requesting the suspension of the trial due to the processing of the Amnesty law, which could affect this case linked to 1-O .
