The Big lie about the Joan Coma case
Judicial proceedings would not have been undertaken against the
Catalan City Councilor if he had not defended the independence project
It is so shocking that a European democratic state detain an elected
official for having expressed his ideas in a plenary session of his
municipal government that those who still believe in the democratic
spirit of a constitutional Spain have rushed to find an explanation so
as to not have to recognize this flagrant attack on the freedom of
expression.
The argument that is serving to calm democratic consciences is that
Joan Coma was not detained for his ideas but rather for refusing to go
to Madrid to testify. But that is not true. It is not true, and it
hurts: it blames the victim and distracts attention from the true
fundamental problem.
A quick review: the man who instigated the investigation against Joan
Coma is the extreme right winger Josep Anglada, former leader of the
xenophobic “Plataforma x Catalunya” who denounced Coma to the Guardia
Civil and added himself personally to the accusations. The Prosecutor
“adjusted” the charges, and is investigating Coma for “alleged
incitement of sedition” a crime which, according to the proseutor, the
Vic city councilor would have committed in a city hall meeting in 2015
by uttering the phrase, “to make an omelette, you must first break the
eggs”.
Judicial Crusade
Anglada starts the ball rolling and the bowels of the State do the
rest, like in a second rate cops and robbers movie: Judge Ismael Moreno,
a former policeman from the Franco era who gained fame by detaining
puppeteers, comes on the scene, picks up the gauntlet and wins points by
joining a judicial crusade of Spanish institutions against
sovereigntist elected officials.
But let’s be clear: no judicial proceeding would have been opened
against Coma nor would he have even been called to testify had he not
defended the independence of Catalonia.
And that is the root of the whole issue: whether Coma goes to testify
or not is a minor procedural matter, what is really serious is that he
be persecuted for expressing his ideas, whatever they may be. When they
say that Coma is guilty of his very own detention, we are not only
sidestepping the real cause of the accusations but we are playing into
the hands of the extreme right, while we also paper over the ill health
of the democracy of a State that long ago lost its way between
judgements and tribunals.
Victims and Executioners
Let us not forget that the justice system that will judge Coma
absolved his accuser, Josep Anglada, of a hate crime of incitement of
racial hate for having distributed 3000 xenophobic pamphlets during the
municipal elections of May, 2007. Victims are turned into executioners,
and executioners into victims.
Yes, this Wednesday Vic City Councilor Joan Coma is [was] taken to
the National Court in Madrid, and it’s no joke: a city councilor
democratically elected at the polls has been detained solely for
expressing his ideas as an elected representative in a municipal plenary
session. That is why all democrats, and particularly those who believe
in “Operation Dialogue”, must join together to keep the foundations of
Spanish democracy from being weakened even further.
Marina Llansana Rosich
About author
Marina Llansana Rosich has a degree in Philology from the
Autonomous University of Barcelona and one in Journalism from Pompeu
Fabra University. She was a member of the Catalan Parliament for ERC and
currently is a communications consultant, and works with various media
organizations. She is part of the Drets [legal counsel] organization.
