New international setback for Spain due to the judicial procedure against the leaders of the process . This time, in the form of an opinion published this Wednesday by the UN Human Rights Committee, a body of independent experts that analyzes compliance with international treaties. The text establishes that the political rights of Oriol Junqueras, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Raül Romeva were violated when their status as deputies of the Parliament was suspended after the elections of December 21, 2017, a measure derived from their being sent to preventive detention for an alleged crime of rebellion. The opinion argues that, although the suspension is provided for in Spanish law, its application lacks “reasonable and objective” reasons. The withdrawal of the seats, the text argues, “was not carried out under the guarantees of due process and impartiality.” In short, for this body, Spain has violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights signed in 1985 and is urged to explain within six months what measures it intends to apply to correct the damage.
The decision comes after the secessionist leaders filed a complaint with the Committee in 2018, which has ended up accepting many of their arguments as good. The decision is important because it gives the leaders of the process an argument of weight and certified by an organization of international prestige in the face of the study of the resources that have been presented before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The decision of the European justice can indeed imply legal consequences against Spain. The Catalan politicians had argued that the suspension of their functions, prior to the existence of a conviction, violates article 25 of said Pact, which shields the right to “participate in the conduct of public affairs, choosing or being elected” without restrictions. inappropriate” and is closely related to the right to free expression of assembly. The situation of the former councilors had already been the subject of a complaint, in 2019, by another UN body, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which in its day led Minister Josep Borrell to criticize the agency’s action.
During the new investigation by the United Nations Committee, the Spanish State argued that the suspension of political charges is objective and justified by virtue of the Law of Criminal Procedure, for a crime of rebellion that implies preventive detention for public charges and that Therefore, it cannot be described as arbitrary. It also emphasizes that the separation of decisions between the investigation phase and the prosecution phase shows that the system is guaranteed. The former councilors had initially been accused of rebellion but were sentenced, among others, for sedition as the use of violence was not proven. Although the Committee does not value the manner in which the investigating judge Pablo Llarena conducted the investigation phase of the case, it does suggest some criticism of the fact that a report was made on alleged violent acts both on September 20 [el registro al Departamento de Economía] as on October 1 and that these fit into that criminal type.
Additionally, the ruling recalls that the Justice must be especially careful when imposing restrictive measures on electoral rights before there is a conviction, always maintaining the principle of “predictability”, which is not fulfilled. “In the circumstances of the present case, an application of domestic law that automatically results in the suspension of functions of elected officials, for alleged crimes based on public and peaceful facts, prior to the existence of a conviction, precludes an individualized analysis of the proportionality of the measure and therefore cannot be considered to meet the required requirements of reasonableness and objectivity”, summarizes the opinion.
The decision of the body, made up of 17 members, has not been unanimous. Two of the representatives have cast a particular vote and another, the Spanish, has abstained from participating. The private vote believes that the political rights of the independence leaders have not been violated and that the measure to suspend them was “reasonable, necessary, proportional and even predictable, given the complicated circumstances faced by the domestic courts.” The plaintiffs, assure “they acted illegally and disrespectfully before the decisions of the Constitutional Court. Their rights had then been restricted because they had already resorted to illegal channels instead of constitutional ones to change the Constitution.”
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Jubilation in independence
The independence movement has welcomed the opinion as a new international victory. President Pere Aragonès, who is in Geneva this Wednesday, has stated that the report has exposed the “arbitrariness” of Spanish justice and “in the eyes of the world the shame of the State”. The four former leaders of the procés have celebrated the decision. The former president Carles Puigdemont has alluded to the fact that the opinion is “another slap in the face” to the State while Junqueras and Raül Romeva have affirmed that it should encourage the Government to promote the amnesty demanded by sovereignism.
The independence movement is awaiting important judicial decisions at the international level. In Junts they hope that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will rule in September on Puigdemont’s immunity as a member of the European Parliament. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) also has to take a position on the appeals filed by former counselors convicted and later pardoned by the Government.
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