Spain demands that two members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention be disqualified

The Spanish government has asked the United Nations to disqualify two members of the UN panel responsible for writing the report on the imprisonment of pro-independence leaders. Madrid claims they have a “conflict of interests” with the jailed leaders’ defense teams.

The Catalan president has urged his Spanish counterpart to “take the necessary measures” to free all pro-independence leaders following the publication of a United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention report.

The government is expected to urge the state prosecutor to withdraw all charges against the Catalan leaders on trial in the Supreme Court and free them immediately following the publication this week of the report demanding that three of the jailed leaders be released.

In a meeting on Friday, the cabinet decided to make the official request through Catalonia’s chief prosecutor after the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention urged Spain on Wednesday to free Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixat.

Earlier in the week, President Quim Torra criticized Spain’s “indiscriminate and impartial” use of state institutions against the independence leaders and argued that the UN report should be extended to the rest of the defendants who are also on trial.