15.10.2018 - 06:05
Jordi Cuixart, president of the grassroots organisation Òmnium Cultural, reacted from the prison in Lledoners to the press reports announcing that the Spanish prosecutor will keep rebellion charges against the nine Catalan leaders in pre-trial jail. Cuixart wrote in a tweet: “I don’t want to get out of jail quickly, but with dignity. We will accuse the Spanish State of violating our fundamental rights and of lying, in alliance with the extreme right. The trial will be a turning point on the road to the Catalan Republic”.
According to reports quoting sources in the Spanish judiciary, the prosecutor will ask for the minimum prison sentence for pro-independence leaders, which is 15 years. The maximum jail time for rebellion can go up to 30 years.
However, another Spanish newspaper, ABC, said the prosecution will ask for prison sentences of between 25 and 30 years for the former Catalan vice president, for being the “leader” of the alleged rebellion. The other former ministers in jail and the former speaker of Parliament, according to these reports, would be asked to serve between 15 and 25 years, while the prosecution would ask between six and eight years for those currently on bail, accused of misuse of public funds. ABC also says that the two activists in jail, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, could also get long prison sentences, depending on whether the judge considers them “leaders” or “participants” of the alleged “rebellion”.
Drop the charges
The prosecutor is expected to file the charges in the coming days. Some international MEPs, such as Portuguese Ana Gomes, had urged the Spanish prosecutor to drop the charges altogether. Catalan politicians have also insisted in several occasions that the prosecutor should withdraw the charges.
The speaker of the Catalan parliament, Roger Torrent, said that the only solution to the political crisis is for the prisoners to be absolved. “The only acceptable result is the absolution. Voting is not a crime, October 1 was the democratic expression of a people,” said Torrent. Lawyers of the jailed ministers insisted on Sunday that their clients are innocent and that there was no rebellion in Catalonia. According to the Spanish criminal code, rebellion entails use of violence.
Courts in Germany and Belgium rejected last spring extraditing Catalan leaders exiled there –including former President Carles Puigdemont-, after considering that there were no grounds to prosecute them for violent rebellion.
