If the agenda is maintained, representatives of the government and the Generalitat should return this week to sit down at the dialogue table. On the eve of this meeting, the ERC, the only government formation present at this forum, focuses on the need to reform the crime of sedition, the key to solving the situation of the Catalan independence leaders and a possible way to build bridges to the Generalitat. In an interview with Europa Press this Sunday, Republican leader Oriol Junqueras accused the government of paralyzing criminal code reform for “political reasons”.
“If there is no mathematical reason, it is clear that the reason is purely political,” said Junqueras, who warned that a move of this kind by the central executive, while not definitive, would not solve the situation for sovereign leaders could help those who have fled Spain, as in the case of former President Carles Puigdemont.
The government has been working on a possible reform of the crimes of rebellion and sedition for the past year, although it eventually froze its proposal — “It wasn’t a priority,” reiterated Presidency Minister Félix Bolaños — and its plans were eventually parked. The proposed sentences were to be halved from 15 to eight years in prison, although their urgency lost momentum after key imprisoned independence leaders were pardoned.
In the interview, the former regional vice-president, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for incitement to hatred and embezzlement over his participation in the independence process, defends the call from the Council of Europe and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to quell sedition, for which he finds it positive that Moncloa went in the same direction. “If the government wants the state to move closer to what all these international institutions are saying, it’s obvious that they know what to do,” he said in a statement not far from that of former justice minister Juan Carlos Campo.
He then points directly to the dialogue table, which he says should serve to “right all the injustices that so many people in this country have suffered, are suffering and, as all indications are, will suffer if no action is taken to rectify it.” Junts reiterated yesterday through the mouth of its secretary-general Jordi Turull that it would not attend the meeting.
The regional government has put on the table the need for de-judiciary procedures to continue to open avenues for dialogue between the two administrations. This deregulation of justice relates not only to the existing judgments, but also to the ongoing court proceedings. Avoid going to jail, avoiding disqualifying sanctions from holding public office and economic fines.
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Risk of re-entry into prison
During the interview, Junqueras did not rule out a return to prison as the Supreme Court reviews the pardons. “Of course we can, we’ve seen a lot more illegal things,” he says. “Of course, if they have done everything they have done and continue to do, everything they are doing against the rule of law, the penal code, the recommendations of all international bodies, then they are able to continue to do so,” he stresses.
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