Call to fund trial observers

The International Trial Watch platform (ITW), promoted by six organisations within Catalonia who defend human rights, is calling on citizens to make donations, in order to cover the expenses of international observers at the trials of Catalan pro-independence leaders in the Supreme Court in Madrid, later this month.

The representatives of the six groups pressing to have ITW attend, asserted that they would not accept “any subsidy from any part of any public administration, in order to maintain the political and economic independence of the group of experts,” as stated by Iñaki Rivera, the director of the Penal System Observatory for Human Rights (OSPDH). For that reason they have issued a call for donations from citizens. Guest experts will not charge any fees for their time, but they may need to buy airline or train tickets to get to the Spanish capital, as well as paying for their stays whilst there. The size and composition of the final team of observers will be elaborated based on the resources obtained. For the time being, there are no confirmed names of academics or personalities.

For Rivera, the fact that the trial will be televised will be one guarantee as it delivers a statement about the gravity of what is being assessed in the trial, and it allows for “citizens to make their own interpretation”. The team of national and international observers will be able to offer a layer of further interpretation, from technical perspective, explaining to the public if the prosecution of Catalan political and civil leaders has been carried out impartially and independently with due respect for the human rights.