Prisoners accuse State of criminalising political dialogue

“It is a curious rebellion or sedition that in which the main rebel or seditious leaders urge citizens to maintain a peaceful attitude at all times, despite the actions of the police (...) A strange rebellion or sedition that in which citizens, alleged executors of a violent and tumultuous uprising, wave a piece of paper as their only weapon, and at the end of the day return peacefully to their homes.” This is one of the ironic statements made by lawyer Jordi Pina in defence of the former Catalan ministers Jordi Turull and Josep Rull and the former president of the ANC and JxCat MP, Jordi Sànchez, presented to the Supreme Court yesterday. In his statements, Pina calls for the acquittal of all three given that they did not commit any of the crimes for which they face 16 (the ex-ministers) and 17 years (the social leader) in prison.

Pina and Judit Gené, the defence lawyer for Meritxell Borràs, emphasised that “the three pillars of political Catalanism are: dialogue, agreement and democracy”, while claiming that the ex-ministers have been “unjustly accused”, with “criminal law twisted and ad hoc legal norms created” against the Catalan pro-independence supporters. The Spanish PP government, on the other hand, “used the Constitutional Court to block the actions of the Parliament of Catalonia.”