Catalan MEPs denounce political prisoners situation to EU and UN

Catalan pro-independence MEPs have reported to the European Commission and the UN the threat from the Spanish Supreme Court to officials who have to decide whether to allow political prisoners to pass their coronavirus confinement at home, and request that they be investigated.

Exiled president Carles Puigdemont and ministers Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí ask the European Commission if Spain’s Supreme Court communication contravenes Article 2 of the European Union Treaty regarding non-discrimination on the basis of ideology and the principles of impartiality and equality before the law . They also ask if it contravenes Articles 21 and 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, concerning the principles of non-discrimination and protection of health, and whether it is compatible with the presumption of innocence. 

On the other hand, MEP Diana Riba alleges to the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet that Spain’s Supreme Court statement “represents a breach of the separation of powers, a threat to Prison Board public servants, and a recurrent discriminatory treatment to Catalan prisoners, as this instruction only applies to nine people out of hundred and two”.