01.02.2015 - 15:31
Judge Santiago Vidal, a magistrate of the Provincial Court of Barcelona, reacted forcefully to the request issued by Spain’s Attorney General’s office to remove him from the bench for helping write a draft proposal for a Catalan constitution. ‘I don’t regret anything, I will defend myself until the last moment’, said Vidal during the public presentation of the draft constitution at the Ateneu Barcelonès. In a defiant tone, Vidal declared: ‘I have a dream: I will see the birth of the Catalan Republic while sitting as a judge’. Vidal said he has been surprised by the ‘authoritarian and visceral’ reaction from the Spanish government and judiciary. ‘Frankly, I was not expecting that’, said Vidal.
Judge Santiago Vidal, a magistrate of the Provincial Court of Barcelona, reacted forcefully to the request issued by Spain’s Attorney General’s office to remove him from the bench for helping write a draft proposal for a Catalan constitution. ‘I don’t regret anything, I will defend myself until the last moment’, said Vidal during the public presentation of the draft constitution at the Ateneu Barcelonès. In a defiant tone, Vidal declared: ‘I have a dream: I will see the birth of the Catalan Republic while sitting as a judge’. Vidal said he has been surprised by the ‘authoritarian and visceral’ reaction from the Spanish government and judiciary. ‘Frankly, I was not expecting that’, said Vidal.
‘I said from the beginning that I would assume every responsibility, but obviously I was not expecting such a visceral and authoritative reaction from the Spanish government and judiciary’, said the magistrate. Vidal ended his remarks by alluding to his dream of seeing a Catalan republic while serving as a judge: ‘I will retire from my judgeship, either serving the [Spanish] state, if it finally issues a favourable decision and does not choose to disbar me or, more probably, serving as a judge in the future Catalan state’, said Vidal to a standing ovation from the audience that packed the auditorium of the Ateneu Barcelonès.
Proposed constitution
The web portal ‘Una nova constitució‘ (a new constitution) will enable citizens to propose amendments to the ninety-seven articles of the draft constitution. Aside from codifying aspects such as establishing open electoral lists or the absence of an army, the constitution proposed by Vidal and his team will also seek to restrict term limits to a maximum of two five-year terms, and to disallow absolute majorities in parliament, as well as life annuities. ‘Even if a party were to get 90% of the vote, it would only get 49% of the parliamentary seats’, explained Vidal.
Joining him in the presentation were Joan Matamala, president of the Foundation Llibreria Les Voltes; Sebastià Sardíner, lawyer and member of the legal committee of the Catalan National Assembly; and Oriol Vidal-Aparicio, professor of political science and co-founder of www.constitucio.cat, the web portal where the draft constitution has been posted. The event was moderated by Patricia Gabancho, vice president of Ateneu Barcelonès.
