23.11.2022 - 10:58
The Catalan High Court has absolved former speaker Roger Torrent and other former members of the parliament bureau in their disobedience case. All but one of the magistrates found Torrent, Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadrós and Adriana Delgado not guilty. They were accused of allegedly contravening Spain’s Constitutional Court and authorizing votes on motions in the Catalan parliament that were deemed unlawful. The prosecution had requested fines of €30,000 and 20-month disqualifications from public office for Torrent, Josep Costa and Eusebi Campdepadrós, and a €24,000 fine and a 16-month ban for Adriana Delgado.
The motions were passed on 12 November 2019, with subsequent amendments on November 26. They were backed by pro-independence parties, holding a majority of seats in the chamber. One of the texts stressed that parliament “reiterates and will reiterate as many times as MPs choose the 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.”
The second one saw the chamber accusing Spain’s Constitutional Court of “censorship” on self-determination and criticism of monarchy discussions. During the debate on the second motion, unionist Ciutadans announced that their party would take the passed motion to the prosecutor’s office. “You are the champions of disobedience,” said the then-leader of the party, Lorena Roldán.
In November 2019, the Constitutional Court had already partly suspended the motion, warning the parliament and the members of its bureau, who at the time were under speaker Roger Torrent, of the criminal consequences of not complying with its rulings. “The judicial system is more worried to go after freedoms than to guarantee them,” Torrent tweeted after it was announced in March 2022 that he and his colleagues would face trial.
