04.12.2017 - 12:49
The Spanish Supreme Court rejected the release of all Catalan pro-independence leaders who have been in jail for more than a month. The judge kept four officials behind bars: the vice president of the Catalan government, Oriol Junqueras; the home affairs minister, Joaquim Forn; and the two leaders of the two principal pro-independence associations, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. The judge also decided to grant a 100,000€ bail to the other six incarcerated leaders, all of them members of Puigdemont’s cabinet.
Actions ‘directly linked to an explosion of violence’
The judge’s decree states that there is no flight risk for any of the ten officials in prison. Yet the court said that there is risk that Junqueras, Forn, Sànchez and Cuixart may commit the same “crimes” again. The ruling also says that the actions by the four leaders that have been kept behind bars are “directly linked to an explosion of violence that, if repeated, leaves no room for correction or satisfaction for those affected by it”.
Indeed, according to the judge, the risk that Junqueras, Forn, Sànchez and Cuixart commit the same “crimes” again means that there is a chance that “actions with serious, immediate and irreparable consequences for the community might be repeated”.
‘Possibility of new attacks,’ judge says
Also, he states that that possibility does not go away despite their “formal” affirmation that they have given up their plan of action or with a judicial determination about their personal situation to see if their declarations will turn out to be untrue, “but rather requires making it clear that the possibility of new attacks has actually disappeared, or that it is gradually confirmed [over time] that the change in desire is true and real.”
On Friday all ten Catalan leaders testified at the Supreme Court, which wanted to review the precautionary measures another court, the Spanish National Court, imposed for them on November 2. The hearings on Friday ended with the judge stating that he would decide on Monday and the Spanish prosecutor willing the preemptive imprisonments to continue. All the officials investigated except for Junqueras and Foreign Affairs minister Raül Romeva answered not only the questions from their lawyers, but also the ones from the prosecution.
