Mas and several Catalan Ministers to accompany Homs in his statement before the Court

The Catalan Government, the board of the Catalan Democratic Party (PDC) and several pro-independence associations will back former Catalan Minister and PDC spokesman in the Spanish Parliament, Francesc Homs, prior to his statement before the Supreme Court. Homs is due to appear before the Court on Monday, since he is being investigated for co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, who was summonsed for the same case together with former Catalan Vice President, Joana Ortega, and former Catalan Minister for Education, Irene Rigau, announced that he will accompany Homs to the Court. Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, Catalan Minister for Culture, Santi Vila and Catalan Minister for Public Administration Meritxell Borràs will also back Homs before his statement.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and the Catalan Vice President, Oriol Junqueras, will meet Homs this Thursday at the Palau de la Generalitat to show him their support prior to his statement before the Court. This will be the first in a series of events to publicly back the former minister, who has been accused by the Supreme Court of disobedience, perversion of justice and misappropriation of public funds for co-organising the 9-N non-binding consultation.

Former President Mas and several ministers to accompany Homs
Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, assured that he will accompany Homs, who was the President’s right-hand man during his term of office, on his way to the Supreme Court. Last October, Mas himself, former Vice-President Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister of Education Irene Rigau were also summonsed in relation to the celebration of this symbolic consultation. Indeed, Rigau also stated that she will join Homs on Monday.

Besides them, PDC’s general coordinators Marta Pascal and David Bonvehí will also appear alongside him in Madrid, together with governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’s Jordi Turull. Members of pro-independence left wing ERC will also accompany Homs to the Court.

Supportive events throughout the weekend
Throughout the weekend, Homs will attend several events aimed at illustrating the support for him in the run-up to his statement. The main pro-independence civil society associations, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Omnium Cultural and the Associations of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) will organise a protest on Saturday to take place before the Parliament aimed at showing their objection to the Court’s decision to prosecute the organisers of the 9-N. On Monday, Arenys de Munt, the first village to host a symbolic pro-independence consultation in 2009, will also host a similar event, which will be attended by Homs and former Catalan President, Artur Mas.

Homs described the whole case as ‘political’
The former Catalan Minister for the Presidency has repeatedly described the whole case as ‘political’ and lamented ‘the low democratic quality’ of the Spanish State. “What sort of message is this to the international community?’ he asked rhetorically. ‘By following this path we will finish our process much sooner than some people may have thought, because there is no way we can explain to the world that a democratic state aims to imprison somebody for putting out the ballot boxes’, he insisted. Thus, ‘the higher the charges, the quicker and the greater Catalonia’s freedom will be’.

Last March, Homs voluntarily testified before Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) in relation to the case. Back then, he already pointed out that his investigation for co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote, which may be referred to the Supreme Court, coincided with his responsibility as head of Catalan coalition ‘Democràcia i Llibertat’ in the Spanish Parliament and the ongoing negotiations in Madrid to form government. Therefore, he stated that ‘60% or 70%’ of the appeal presented corresponded to ‘political’ intentions.

Additional accusations added last May
Initially, Homs had to appear before the Supreme Court for having signed a letter which authorised the company T-Systems, which provided the computers used during the symbolic vote, to move on and continue with the requested tasks, as the TC’s suspension didn’t affect the organisation of the vote. Homs admitted his responsibility and authorship of the letter but assured that the suspension of the participative process by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) on the 4^th of November, five days before the vote took place, was ‘ambiguous’ and that, therefore, neither him nor any of the members of the government at that time can be accused of having disobeyed the suspension.

In May, the accusations of disobedience, perversion of justice and misappropriation of public funds were added to the inquiry. These are the same charges for which former Catalan President Artur Mas, former Vice-President Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister of Education Irene Rigau were also summonsed last October.