Hidden application of anti-terrorism law to detained Catalan activists?

Although Spain’s anti-terrorism law has not been officially applied to the nine Catalan activists detained on Monday on charges of terrorism, possession of explosives and rebellion, the spokesman of anti-repressive organisation Alerta Solidaria, Xavier Pellicer, warns of a “hidden” or “concealed” application of this law to the detainees.

Pellicer attributed the supposed confessions of two of the arrested to the “illegal” manipulation and pressure of Spain’s paramilitary police, the Guardia Civil. “Imagine that they raid your house at 6AM, you are driven to Madrid handcuffed, you are isolated and you get no sleep for 24-36 hours. They manipulate and lie to you, they menace you, how would you react?”, asks Pellicer.

In an interview with VilaWeb, Pellicer reviews the violations committed by the Guardia Civil: “They have the obligation to facilitate an interview with the detainees shortly after the arrest and they have not done so. They have the obligation to provide information about where the detainees are and they have not done it or they have with hours or days of delay. They have also violated any precepts linked to the confidentiality of judicial investigations, leaking information both from the Guardia Civil and the prosecutor’s office”.

National Court in Madrid

Seven of the nine pro-independence activists began giving evidence in Spain’s National Court in Madrid at 11am on Thursday morning. While all nine were charged with terrorism, rebellion and possession of explosives, two were released on bail on the same day of their arrest, with the rest being transferred to the Madrid region for their court appearance.

Only two suspects made statements to the police while waiting to appear in court. According to leaks from the Guardia Civil, both admitted they were preparing protest actions for the anniversary of the October 1 referendum, but deny any intention to hurt anyone.

From early in the morning, people in support of the detainees began gathering outside the court, including CDR members and representatives of the ERC, JxCat and CUP pro-independence parties. The arrests of the activists have caused much consternation within Catalonia’s independence movement, which has always explicitly rejected violence as a means for achieving its political objectives.