CATALONIA -- On November 2nd the indictment letters of the prosecutors in the case of the Catalan independentists were presented.
CATALONIA
On November 2nd the indictment letters of the prosecutors in the case
of the Catalan independentists were presented. The prosecution requests
25 years for the vice president of the government deposed and between 16
and 17 years for the rest of the members.
The severity of the
penalties and accusations allow foresee harsh final judgments. Although
the Human Rights Court of Strasbourg revoked it, long years of prison
await the Catalan leaders.
In order to request such penalties, the prosecution has forced and exaggerated the facts:
– - It presupposes the character of "paramilitary corps" to the Catalan police, accusing it of collusion.
– - Convert peaceful demonstrations such as that of September 20th,
2017 to protest against searches and detentions of government officials
in violent acts.
– - Accuses of violence the voters of the October 1st referendum who only opposed peaceful resistance.
– - Deliberately ignores the hundreds of victims of police violence and
only quotes the few minor injuries of the Spanish police.
– -
Accuses the members of the government of having a plan that included
exercising "the necessary violence" to achieve their goals.
The
Spanish prosecutor's office tries to present the Catalan movement as
violent to justify their accusations and their requests for jail. The
prosecution deliberately ignores the repeated request to hold a legal
referendum that has always been claimed.
Ignore also how this
possibility has been closed because supposedly it does not fit in the
Constitution. This is what forces independentists to hold an illegalized
referendum that the police and the judges are responsible for
repressing by all means –legal and illegal.
The goal is not to
do justice. The real goal is to make a punishment so that they do not
try it again. Europe and its people must know it.
Europe must
also know that it is not possible to modify the Constitution to make
possible a referendum of self-determination: the majorities that are
demanded and the complicated and long process of many years that is
required make it impossible for a national minority like that of the
Catalan people (16% of Spanish population).
There is only one
way: to continue the resistance peacefully facing new and more intense
repression. But the peoples of Europe can force their rulers react and
to press Spain for a balanced negotiation. Please, help Catalonia.
