Prosecutors seek disqualification for former Catalan parliament bureau members

Prosecutors have requested disqualification from holding public office for the former Catalan parliament bureau members accused of disobedience. Roger Torrent, Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Adriana Delgado are all accused of disobedience for allowing votes to take place in the chamber on self-determination as well as ones against the Spanish monarchy.

Specifically, prosecutors have asked for 1 year and 8 months of barring from public office for the current Catalan business minister Roger Torrent, as well as Josep Costa and Eusebi Campdepadrós, while 1 year and 4 months disqualification has been requested for Adriana Delgado. In addition to the disqualification, prosecutors seek fines of €30,000 for Torrent, Costa, and Campdepadrós, and €24,000 for Delgado.

Trial to come

The four were indicted in November, two weeks after Josep Costa was arrested for refusing to give a statement in the court, which announced in March that it had decided to admit a criminal lawsuit from Spain’s public prosecutor. The top Catalan court is expected to try them for the events that took place in November 2019 in the wake of the sentencing of the nine 2017 referendum organizers as well as a wave of protests and violent clashes with police across Catalonia.

The motions, which were passed on 12 November 2019 and saw subsequent amendments on November 26, were backed by the pro-independence majority in the chamber. One of the texts stressed that Parliament “reiterates and will reiterate as many times as MPs choose its disapproval of the monarchy, the defense of self-determination and the affirmation of the sovereignty of the people of Catalonia to decide their political future.”

At the time of the events, Torrent was the parliament speaker and president of the bureau, Costa was vice president, Campdepadrós was first secretary, and Delgado was the fourth secretary.