Spain Rules Against Catalonian Separatist Quim Torra
Spain charges and removes a Catalonian politician from office after he refused to remove an independence banner from a government building. (Wikimedia Commons)
Spain’s high court banned Catalonian politician Quim Torra from holding office. Torra was charged after refusing to remove a pro-Catalonian independence banner from a government building.
This decision came shortly before the third anniversary of an illegal referendum for Catalonian independence. In October of 2017, the region failed at seceding—however, Catalonian separatist politicians continued to push for a vote on secession after Madrid had declared the ballot illegal.
On the night of the anniversary this year, police arrested 16 people who took part in protests. However, the protests were not as large-scale as the previous two years which is likely as a result of the pandemic.
The court ruling comes shortly after the Spanish government began reconsidering clemency for politicians and activists who were arrested in 2017 during the independence movement. They were sentenced to 9 to 13 years in prison under a charge of sedition. This announcement came as a welcome surprise to the separatist party, Together for Catalonia. Both the Popular Party and Vox, the far-right party, have threatened the government for taking action that could possibly lead to clemency for the separatists. Macarena Olona, secretary-general of the Vox party in Congress, said that her party was ready to take legal action against the government.
Quim Torra was elected regional leader for Catalonia in May 2018 with a promise to “build an independent state in the form of a republic.” He brought the recent case to the Supreme Court as part of an appeals process to an earlier verdict in March 2019. His argument against the conviction was based on freedom of expression. Several other separatist leaders spoke out on social media against the ban, citing the case as an example of Spain infringing upon freedom of expression. However, the judges on Spain’s high court released a statement that “[Mr. Torra] repeatedly and stubbornly disobeyed the orders of the Central Electoral Board to remove certain symbols from public buildings belonging to the [regional government] during the electoral process.”
Moving forward, Deputy Catalan leader Pere Aragones is expected to temporarily assume Torra’s position in the region. However, there will be an early election for a new Catalonian leader. The results of the clemency case for the 2017 convicted separatists will reflect current national opinions on Catalonian independence.