The Spanish government has highlighted this Thursday that the former president of the Catalan Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, protagonist of an independence attempt in 2017, continues to be held accountable before the courts, although he is no longer accused of sedition.
“What is concluded with this decision that we know today is that these facts [de 2017] continue to have a conviction, a criminal reproach, and that everyone has to answer before the Spanish justice system,” said the government spokesperson, Minister Isabel Rodríguez, in statements to journalists in Madrid.
The minister added that the recent modifications to the Spanish Penal Code, which put an end to the crime of sedition, had among their objectives to align Spanish legislation with that of other European countries, also being a commitment assumed by Spain with its partners in Europe.
Isabel Rodríguez also said that the Spanish Criminal Code continues to have tools to deal with another attempt at independence in the country and argued that the best instrument is dialogue.
The Spanish justice system withdrew this Thursday the accusation for the crime of sedition against Carles Puigdemont and other leaders of the 2017 independence attempt, several of them residing outside Spain to escape trial and prison, leaving them in a “context close to decriminalization”. , according to the Spanish Supreme Court.
The changes in the persecution of the independentistas derive from the entry into force of the reform of the Spanish Criminal Code, defended by the Government of Spain and ratified by Parliament at the end of 2022.
The new Penal Code ended the crime of sedition (which provided for prison sentences of up to 15 years) and modified the crime of embezzlement (improper use or embezzlement of public funds), reducing the penalties for cases in which the funds were not used for the enrichment of people. .
When the changes were announced and discussed, the Spanish government stated that with the abolition of sedition, the independentistas would be accused and sentenced for the crime of “aggravated public disorder”, which did not happen this Thursday with the new sentence regarding Puigdemont.
The Supreme Court judge considered that “aggravated public disorder” does not apply to these cases and that the changes in the Penal Code leave the independentistas in a “context close to that of decriminalization.”
The Spanish justice, however, maintains the accusation against Carles Puigdemont of embezzlement (for the use of public funds to organize an illegal referendum in October 2017) and disobedience.
The Esquerda Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), the pro-independence party that is in the regional government, has already welcomed the judge’s interpretation of the new Penal Code.
Marta Rovira, one of the ERC leaders who lives in Switzerland and was accused of sedition, said Thursday that the party called “precisely” for the elimination of sedition from the Penal Code without replacing it with another new crime.
This ERC leader began this Thursday to be accused only of disobedience, a crime that is not punishable by prison.
Spain has already requested on several occasions the extradition of Puigdemont and other independentistas, but the request was denied by other European countries, due to the crime of sedition in Spanish law, which no longer exists in the penal codes of most European countries. .
Puigdemont is currently an MEP and a request to lift his parliamentary immunity for that position is pending in Belgium.
Dozens of other Catalans are accused of various crimes because of the events of 2017, awaiting trial or fleeing from justice abroad.
Those who have already been tried have been sentenced to prison terms and disqualified from holding public office for several years.
With the changes in the Criminal Code, all those already convicted or accused can see the sentences that have been applied or will be applied reduced, allowing, for example, a return to political life soon, as candidacies in the next elections autonomous.
The Supreme Court gave eight days this Thursday to the defenses of those already convicted to express their opinion in relation to the review of sentences under the new Penal Code.
None of the nine courts is already in prison, because the Spanish government, headed by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, granted them pardon in 2019.
Without an absolute majority of support in the national parliament, Sánchez has relied on the Catalan separatists (and also the Basques, in addition to other minor formations) to approve laws such as the General State Budget.
Sánchez himself acknowledged that it was a risky reform of the Penal Code, but added that it was the only way to end the tension in Catalonia and take the political conflict out of court.
The right, on the other hand, accuses the socialists (who are in government with the platform of the extreme left parties United We Can) of negotiating their own sentences with “criminals” only in exchange for guaranteeing “the seat of power.”
Source: TSF
