Live Blog | Catalonia on Trial: The Spanish State vs. The Catalan 12

Catalonia's right to self-determination: Europe's key struggle for democracy

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Week ending September 29

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September 29 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Lluís Llach: ‘A guilty verdict will mean the assassination of the Spanish constitution by those who defend it’

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Parliamentary majority denounces criminalisation of Catalan independence camp

•  Catalan activists' lawyers denounce "irregularities from the very start"

•  Puigdemont claims terrorism allegations aim to persuade Belgium to extradite him

• President Torra on terrorism accusations: 'We can't condemn what doesn't exist'

• Puigdemont reminds Sánchez that it was the PSOE who once ran a terror squad

• Catalan Parliament session ends in chaos after arrested activists denied bail

• An atmosphere of suffocation

Spanish general election November 10

• Spanish general election: can a divided left keep out the right?

•  Pro-independence CUP party to run in the Spanish general election

• Sánchez and Iceta: strutting the Socialists' hard line on Catalonia 

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September 26 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Supporters gather as detained pro-independence activists appear in Madrid high court

• 9 pro-independence activists arrested and accused of planning violent actions

• Outrage in pro-referendum camp following arrest of nine activists for ‘terrorism’

• Catalans arrested in "terrorism" raid, yet terrorism protocol is not being applied

• ‘What do you fear?’: President demands agreed referendum in key parliament speech

• Reality distortion: from “rebellion” to “terrorism”

• Spain: the machine that churns out separatists

• When ordinary offences are considered terrorism

• Pro-independence parties propose Spain's Civil Guard withdraw from Catalonia

• State Repression and Police Intimidation in Catalonia

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Week ending September 22

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September 20 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Spain’s Public Prosecutor: the verdict in the case of the Catalan leaders will be announced before 12 October

• What chances of an amnesty for Catalonia's jailed leaders?

Failed negotiations over new Spanish government, new general election November 10

• Pedro Sánchez’s failure

• Jailed leaders expected not to be able to run in Spanish election

• Spain is trapped in political instability. To understand why, look at Catalonia

• Spain debates how to leave Catalan independence parties out of the picture

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Josep Borrell attacks the EU prior to becoming the head of European diplomacy

• Spain’s acting president insists on possibility of suspending Catalonia’s self-rule

• Catalan Socialist mayor Nuria Marín tells Pedro Sánchez: "Article 155 solves nothing"

• Civil Guard to send reinforcements to Catalonia ahead of independence trial sentences

• Borrell thwarts Catalan government plans for 5G Med corridor

• European Commission: Spain couldn’t request extradition of rap singer convicted for song lyrics

News, debate and comment in the Catalan sovereignty and independence movement

• New platform 'Ens Plantem' plans bold, non-violent action to unblock Catalan issue

• Where is the Catalan independence movement headed?

• The upcoming phase

Other news and comment

• Spain's Felipe VI deviated from constitutional duty in investiture, says ex-judge

• Spain not to investigate links between its secret services and the Barcelona terror attack head

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Week ending September 15

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September 15 | Trial awaiting sentence

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Coverage and comment on the 2019 Catalan National Day (Diada), September 11, and aftermath

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• VIDEO | The best aerial images of Catalonia's 2019 Diada rally  

• Catalan independence: the street's still strong, the parties are punished

• Acquittal' demand unites Catalan independence and left-wing Comuns

• Torra: "Every right we are denied, we'll have to exercise again"

• Catalan Parliament Medal of Honor goes to migrant rescue representatives 

• 600,000 is too few

• As much as ever

• Where is the Catalan independence movement headed?

• Austrian newspaper: "Why a heated autumn looms for Catalonia"

News and comment on trial

• Special Case 20907: the political trial of the century

• Spain’s prosecutor-general  demands complying with verdict on jailed leaders--"whatever it is"

• Spain's king closes ranks with the judiciary ahead of Catalan trial sentence

• Torra in Madrid warns full acquittal is the only acceptable verdict

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

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• Another four Spanish officers indicted over riot police charges in Barcelona during 2017 independence vote

• Video: Spanish ambassador's protest at Catalan poetry event in Croatia

• Controversies continue over president Torra's trial

News, debate and comment in the Catalan sovereignty and independence movement

• Catalan exile body presents new plan for mediated negotiation with Spain

• The Council for the Republic applies pressure

• Jailed leader Junqueras reelected head of Esquerra

• Asking 80 questions to build the structure of a Catalan constitution

• Puigdemont, interviewed by Swiss, Italian and Russian media: dialogue but unilateralism

• Puigdemont: "Negotiating with Spain must not paralyse independence"

Other news and comment

• Michael Ignatieff: “The judgement of the Supreme Court will not be the end”

• 47 Basques: The mass trial of 47 members of ETA prisoners’ support network begins more than a year after the dissolution of the armed Basque separatist group

• Spanish government renews the dukedom that Franco created for Falange founder

• Why did the Civil Guard leave long weapons in open car during key Catalan protest?

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Week ending September 8

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September 6 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Fifty-two French deputies protest the situation of the Catalan political prisoners

• President Torra: “A guilty verdict will lead us to a new stage culminating in independence”

• Torra in Madrid warns full acquittal is the only acceptable verdict

• President of Corsica says Catalan prisoners "democratic issue that concerns the whole of Europe"

• "Democratic Tsunami" to promote non-violent civil disobedience in response to independence trial

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• European Parliament to submit observations on Oriol Junqueras’ immunity to EU Court of Justice

• European parliament gets involved in jailed Junqueras immunity case

• European Parliament president to send report to Court of Justice in Junqueras

• Eight Spanish chief inspectors summonsed by court over police violence during Catalan referendum

• Belgian court orders new investigations on Puidgemont’s espionage case

• President Torra announces legal actions over "irregularities" in his trial

• Puigdemont and Comín launch MEP appeal

Negotiations over new Spanish government

• ERC: Pedro Sánchez’s proposal for Catalonia is “awful” but Podemos should vote him in

• Sánchez's proposals to become prime minister: no Catalan referendum

The struggle over strategy in the Catalan independence movement

• Potential allies reject Catalan government unity calls

• "Protests work": Catalan independence movement looks to Hong Kong

Barcelona updates

• Data confirms violent robberies are up in Barcelona

Other news and comment

• The rights of minorities (Gonzalo Boye)

• The constitutional crisis persists

• Spain and the Spanish: 'This is the sheer underlying manipulation: confusing the Spanish state with the Spanish people'

• Ousted pro-Kurdish mayors denounce political putsch

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Week ending September 1

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August 28 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

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• 70.3% of Catalans believe prison and exile are unjust

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Catalan independence at the UN: how the legal battle at Geneva is being waged

• Pro-union parties oppose explanations for Global Spain report on Catalonia

• Catalan government to take Spain to court over 1.3 billion in withheld taxes

Other news and comment

• Final Catalan survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp dies

• Spanish minister booed at Republican commemoration in Paris

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Week ending August 25

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August 25 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Cuixart calls to “disobey unjust laws when necessary”

• Lawyer Boye sees EU protection of minority rights as a key to Catalan MEPs case

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Catalan government to take Spain to court over non-payment, encourages other regional governments to join in

• Catalan government slams Madrid over “financial stranglehold”, demands outstanding €1.3bn payment

• Spain threatens to take Catalonia’s foreign action plan to court

• Spanish government’s new judicialisation initiative sparks defiant Catalan response

Barcelona updates

• ‘No security crisis’ - The facts behind the Barcelona ‘crime wave'

• (Joe Brew's data analysis)  Violence in Barcelona? Reality and narrative

Other news and comment

• The plans for this year's Catalan national day (Diada) protest

• "Whitewashing Franco": disgust as Spanish government continues to rewrite history

• Global Spain head Irene Lozano attacks Quim Torra directly in Twitter exchang

• Turkey justifies Kurdistan repression drawing parallels to Spain's political prisoners (background here)

• Spanish diplomacy's airbrushing of 'Baltic Way' history shown up by British account

• The Spanish state never wants to negotiate (Comment)

• Hong Kong to follow in footsteps of Catalonia and the Baltic states

Social network exchanges

• On the 30th anniversary of the Baltic Way human chain linking the Baltic states demanding independence form the former USSR

Ursula von der Leyen‏ (President of the European Commission)

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August 20 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• The ace up the judges' sleeves: release the Catalan independence trial verdicts early?

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Spain keeps close eye on Catalan activities in Switzerland

• Catalan president contemplating action against anti-independence Spanish government report

The struggle over strategy in the Catalan independence movement

• President Torra calls for ‘confrontation’ with Spain in bid for Catalan independence

• Catalan president Torra calls for sacrifices, says independence "will be a conquest, never a gift"

• Catalan vice-president Pere Aragonès: "Catalan independence has to clearly beat the 50% mark in successive elections"

• Oriol Junqueras on how Catalonia should react to the verdict in his trial

The battle for refugee rights in the Mediterranean

• Refugees jump off stranded rescue ship as Open Arms calls situation ‘out of control’

• Open Arms: the egg on Spain’s face (Comment)

• (Data analysis by Joe Brew) Quantifying hypocrisy: the case of Open Arms and the Spanish Socialists

Other news and comment

• Scottish proindy band to perform at Catalonia’s National Day

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Week ending August 18

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August 13 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• (Comment by Ernesto Ekaizer) In Spain the rule of law is morphing into rule by the judges

• Puigdemont's legal strategist Gonzalo Boye on mistakes, the future and not being pro-independence

Other news and comment

• Only 19% of Catalans oppose a self-determination referendum

• Open Arms seeks asylum for 31 minors as choppy waters loom for rescue ship

• Video: Bullfighting fans sing fascist songs in Mallorca

• Spanish prosecutors favour granting Cuixart permission to attend his son's birth

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Week ending August 11

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August 9 | Trial awaiting sentence

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Negotiations over new Spanish government

• Spanish Socialists won't 'depend' on pro-independence parties but will 'talk' to them

• Sánchez opens up to negotiate the investiture with 'Catalan nationalist forces'

Barcelona Council updates

• City requests parliamentary probe into 17-A Barcelona terror attack

• ‘Top manta’ street sellers ask for an end to ‘racist police persecution’

• Jauja and the City of Refuge

The sewers of the Spanish state

• Unease in Scotland over Spanish embassy's monitoring of Nicola Sturgeon

Other news and comment

• Kashmir: the local expression of a global problem

• UK's Labour would support second referendum in Scotland, unlike Spain's PSOE in Catalonia

• Puigdemont's lawyer Cuevillas on exile, the prisoners and Pedro Sánchez

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Week ending August 4

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August 4 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

• Both of the Ripoll imam’s CNI handlers were posted abroad after the terrorist attacks in Catalonia in 2017 (The truth about the imam of Ripoll – Part V)

• Spanish agents spied on Bundestag MPs, according to German newspaper

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Solidarity fund pays fines for November 9, 2014 consultation in full, posts bail for Court 13 defendants

• The 500 nights of Carme Forcadell

• Document: Concern from the Spanish embassy over Catalonia-Scotland contacts

Barcelona Council updates

• Barcelona launches campaign against illegal street selling

• Barcelona's 'top manta' vendors protest 'persecution' by city council

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August 1| Trial awaiting sentence

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The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Catalan government representative to Germany files complaint against Spanish FM over efforts to monitor Catalonia’s foreign action

• Borrell's spying reaches German courts

The sewers of the Spanish state

• La Vanguardia claims report on 2017 terror attacks contradicts revelations by Público

Other news and comment

• Oriol Junqueras immunity hearing set for October 14 in EU court

• CIS poll: Spaniards doubt Supreme Court’s independence

• Madrid failed to deliver €2.2bn worth of public investment in Catalonia between 2013 and 2018

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July 31 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

• Catalonia's High Court of Justice knocks Borrell out

• Catalan president won’t pay Spanish electoral authority fines

Other news and comment

• Survey: Sánchez's PSOE would win new election with over 40% of the vote 

• (Comment by Vicenç Villatoro) Manuela Carmena and Vox

• Second day of police patrols against Barcelona's 'top manta' sellers

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July 29 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

• Spain paid informants in Catalan police to fight independence, say reports

• Spain’s Interior Ministry used secret funds to pay informants within Catalan police force ahead of independence vote

• Secret services and police not aware of terrorist movements before 2017 attacks, says new report

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Week ending July 28

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July 27 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• International watchdog criticises Spain's use of pretrial detention

Other news and comment

• Catalan opinion survey: ERC 1st in Catalan Parliament elections. PSC and JxCat tie for 2nd

• Leading independence figures meet in Puigdemont's Waterloo residence

• Wave of support for politicians fined over unofficial 2014 Catalan referendum

• German television questions Borrell’s EU top diplomacy candidacy

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July 25 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Spain’s Supreme Court dismisses fresh appeal for release of Catalan political prisoners

PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• Pedro Sánchez fails to return as Spanish PM as last-minute talks fail

• Presidential bid fails again in Spain: 155 votes against Pedro Sánchez

• Rufián tells PSOE and Podemos "we'll all regret" failed investiture

• Borràs tells Sánchez he is "a politician prisoner to his own arrogance"

• What's next now that Sanchez's investiture has failed?

Other news and comment

• Catalan Parliament defends right to self-determination and rejects monarchy

• Last survivors remember Battle of the Ebre 81 years on

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July 24 | Trial awaiting sentence

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PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• Sánchez to make new offer to Podemos to save investiture

• First speech in Congress by JxCat leader Laura Borràs: "155 reasons" to vote against Sánchez

• Republican Left leader Gabriel Rufián says "irresponsible" Sánchez "can still save the situation"

Other news and comment

• Constituent debate: first report on the foundations of a Catalan Constitution

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July 23 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

• El Confidencial: seven top Spanish corporations funded Rajoy’s campaign against Catalonia’s independence bid

PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• Sánchez’s presidential bid defeated in first round of votes

• Pro-independence ERC extends hand to Sánchez: 'We are obliged to understand each other'

• Investiture debate: Sánchez again asking for PP and Cs' abstention

• Spanish president accuses Catalan independence movement of going against history

• (Comment) Sánchez neither wants, nor deserves, the investiture

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Week ending July 21

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July 21 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• ANC presents report to UN review process on Spain's violations of human rights

• Lawyers' associations criticise Spain's human rights record to the UN

PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• The independence parties' dilemma

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July 20 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

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CNI spook 1: 'Our man in Ripoll is preparing a whopper.'
CNI spook 2: 'Let him do what he wants. Here we've got more important things to worry about.' (Ferreres, Ara)

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Público revelations translated into English by Milford Edge (4):

The CNI wanted to install Es-Satty as an imam in Barcelona controlled from Madrid but the local secret service chief refused

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PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• Why Spain's political arithmetic gives Catalans and Basques the last word on Sánchez

• The bluff

Other news and comment

• Parliament to set up inquiry into Spanish police violence at 2017 referendum

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July 19 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

Público revelations translated into English by Milford Edge (3)

The CNI recruited Es Satty in 2014 in exchange for not deporting him and helped him become the imam of Ripoll

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News and comment on trial

• Access International Trial Watch's report on the trial, sent to the UN, here

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Catalan executive requests meetings with central government to clarify CNI and terror attack link

• Constitutional Court rules Catalan parliament cannot censure the King

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• Acting Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell tweets from Argentina

(Spanish original) "Las #identidades no crecen en los arboles. Las identidades se construyen y destruyen con la escuela, lengua, tv, propaganda... Debemos esforzarnos para que la nuestra no se vea pervertida por otras construcciones identitarias. Pertenecemos a un gran país que ha hecho una gran tarea en el mundo y en #Amlat @casamerica pic.twitter.com/ZK7oOiWwDt"

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) 18 de juliol de 2019

(English translation) "Identities don't grow on trees. Identities can be constructed and destroyed, through education, language, TV, propaganda ... We have to make an effort so that ours isn't perverted by other identities. We belong to a great country that has carried out a great task in the world and in Latin America."

--Spanish acting foreign minister Josep Borrell, candidate to be the next head of EU diplomacy.

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PSOE-Unidas Podemos negotiations over new Spanish government

• Pablo Iglesias won't block coalition government in Spain next week

• Pedro Sánchez admits Catalonia main obstacle to left-wing coalition

• Spotlight on Catalonia: what to expect of debate to name Spanish president

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July 18 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

Público revelations translated into English by Milford Edge (2):

The CNI listened in on the mobile phone conversations of the Ramblas murderers only five days before the massacre

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Reaction

• Increasing outrage in Catalonia at news linking Spanish intelligence with terror attack

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July 17 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

Público revelations translated into English by Milford Edge (1):

The mastermind behind the massacre on the Ramblas was a CNI informant until the day of the attack

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Comment

• The most serious scandal of Spanish democracy

• The dirt always comes to the surface

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The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• New EU president starts off having to face the issue of Catalan MEPs' absence

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July 16 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The sewers of the Spanish state

• Barcelona terror attack leader was an informer for Spanish intelligence till the end

• Mastermind of Rambla terror attacks was informer for Spanish intelligence, say reports

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Jailed Councillor Forn denied leave to attend Barcelona City’s plenary session

• The espionage scandal: Borrell risks EU's top diplomat appointment

• Catalan government delegate in the UK: "My spy was called Damián, he didn't hide"

• Crans Montana Forum stands up to Borrell's reproaches for their treatment of president Puigdemont

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Week ending July 14

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July 14 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Catalan trial verdict could be announced in July, says criminal law expert

The Spanish state offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Catalan president to face trial over yellow ribbon row

• President Torra's letter to European foreign missions denouncing Borrell's espionage

The Spanish media offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement

• Catalan education minister: School case shows "lack of ethics in some Spanish media and politicians"

Within the Catalan independence and pro-sovereignty movements

• CUP national assembly: left independentism re-tunes strategy

• Catalan prisoner Jordi Cuixart: “It’s through fear that Spain might suffocate civil disobedience

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July 12 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The Spanish state diplomatic offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Borrell's espionage on British MPs lands at Westminster

• Scottish MPs shocked at having been the victims of Borrell's espionage

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July 11 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial, political prisoners and exiles and other impending trials of Catalan leaders and officials

• UN asks for the immediate liberation of Bassa, Romeva, Forn and Rull

• Spain's "dirty war" on the UN working group

• International Trial Watch  concludes case against Catalan independence leaders is “political trial”

• UN Group on Arbitrary Detention calls for immediate release of another four Catalan prisoners

• A guide to the (several) Catalan independence trials

The sewers of the Spanish state

• Spanish police enter Catalan government HQ again

• Repression against pro-independence movement relaunched

• Ex-Spanish minister Cospedal implicated by tapes in 'dirty ops' against Catalonia

• “Operation Catalonia”

The Spanish state diplomatic offensive against Catalan sovereignty movement and government

• Madrid is not Ottawa: the eternal rejection of the Catalan referendum in Spain

• Crans Montana Forum president told off by Borrell for welcoming president in exile Carles Puigdemont

• Catalan government asks for Borrell's resignation over espionage allegations

• ERC and JxCat summon Borrell for spying on Catalan delegations abroad

• Spanish government to challenge opening of new Catalan delegations abroad

The Catalan crisis in Spanish politics

• No mention of Catalan conflict resolution in Sánchez's programme for talks with Iglesias

• Constitutional Court defines norms for future use of Article 155

• Can Spain’s new president pass on Catalonia?

Other news and comment

• Albert Einstein Institution applauds Catalan independence movement's non-violent strategy

• Catalan independence leaders and parties hold a surprise summit in Switzerland

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Week ending July 7

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July 4 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The July 2 Catalan protest outside the European Parliament, Strasbourg

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• Photo gallery 

• Intervention to parliament of Sinn Fein MEP Brian Carthy in support of Catalan MEPs banned from taking their seats

• El Nacional interview with Brian Carthy

• Brian Carthy speech to protest

• Puigdemont, Comín and Junqueras miss European Parliament’s inaugural session: Sinn Féin MEP slams Tajani over the situation of the three Catalan pro-independence representatives

• Thousands travel to Strasbourg to protest empty MEP seats

• Thousands of Catalans streaming to Strasbourg for EU Parliament protest

The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Absentees in Strasbourg (Comment by Antoni Bayona,  former chief legal advisor with the Parliament of Catalonia)

• Spanish police in Strasbourg: a way to arrest Puigdemont without a European arrest warrant

• Leader of European Greens Ska Keller asks for "Junqueras' parliamentary rights to be restituted"

The war against refugee rescue vessels in the Mediterranean

• Spain threatens Catalan migrant rescue NGO with 900.000€ fine

• Pep Guardiola, disgusted by arrest of  rescue ship captain: "We're in the sh*t"

Other news and comment

• Ben Emmerson launches #StopBorrell Twitter campaign to stop Borrell's nomination

• #Stop Borrell

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Week ending June 30

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June 30 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• (Analysis of appeal to the High Court of the European Union) Battle for three Catalan MEPs' seats would be an "unprecedented" case in EU court

• In one tweet Puigdemont dismantles Tajani's argument for not considering him an MEP-elect

• Tajani to Puigdemont: "I'm not in a position to treat you as future MEPs"

• Tajani replies that Puigdemont and Comín's complaints are a domestic issue for Spain

Other news and comment

• The most spectacular images of the Catalan wildfire

• Open Arms ship defies ban and sets sail to rescue migrants in Mediterranean: NGO founder Òscar Camps: 'I rather be in prison than complicit'

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June 27 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• The political prisoners are back in Catalonia

• Three days to cover 600 kilometers: a shameful journey

• International forum presents Puigdemont as an exile, denounces existence of political prisoners

The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Tajani replies that Puigdemont and Comín's complaints are a domestic issue for Spain

• Spain's Supreme Court asks Europe about extent of MEP immunity

Other news and comment

• (Vincenç Villatorio) The Crusade: The former Spanish Interior Minister declared that the success of Franco's coup was a miracle

• Spanish foreign minister won't take up seat as MEP after all

• Catalan government to open three new delegations abroad

• Spain to appeal the opening of three new Catalan delegations abroad

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Week ending June 23

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June 23 | Trial awaiting sentence

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The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Puigdemont, Junqueras and Comín’s seats in European Parliament declared "vacant" by Spain’s JEC

• (Gonzalo Boye) Always with the narrative

Other news and comment

• Brushstrokes: Rivera’s pacts with far-right Vox draw the red line which neither Macron nor Valls are willing or able to cross

• Catalonia and the King of Spain: a no love story: Data analyst Joe Brew shows the low support for the Spanish Monarchy in Catalonia

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June 20 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• Two witnesses rejected by Catalan independence trial speak in Westminster

• Spanish court won’t block transfer of jailed pro-independence leaders to Catalonia

• Amnesty calls for release of two pro-independence activists

• Prosecutors oppose release of Catalan prisoners awaiting a verdict in their case

The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Spain's Electoral Commission declares Puigdemont and Junqueras' MEP seats vacant 

• Puigdemont’s seat in EU Parliament declared vacant by Spain 

• Puigdemont will appeal to Court of Justice of EU to become MEP

• Puigdemont awaiting response from Spain's Central Electoral Commission

• Puigdemont to attend opening of European Parliament

• Over seventy MEPs call for Puigdemont, Junqueras and Comín to have their rights protected

• Boye: "They laugh at us and in the end things turn out as we say"

• Why can’t Catalan political prisoners and exiles become MEPs?

Other news and comment

• Officer who fired rubber bullet blinding Catalan referendum voter in one eye is identified

• 37 Lives lost in the Mediterranean

• Catalan government apologises for Spanish colonisation of Mexico

• Case in Belgium on Spanish rapper's extradition postponed   

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Week ending June 16

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June 16 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• John Carlin: "The trial has been barbaric; the imprisonment, an aberration"

Who will run Barcelona Council?

• Colau saves the Barcelona mayoralty, thanks to the PSC and Manuel Valls

• Ada Colau, heavily booed in Barcelona's Plaça Sant Jaume

• Who blows up the bridges?

• Ciudadanos can't get their story straight on Manuel Valls and Ada Colau

• The power struggle to appoint Catalan mayors is over, but it’s hard to tell who won

• Quim Forn, political prisoner and Barcelona city councillor

• Losing Barcelona to win Catalonia

• Catalonia's major city councils: dominated by the left, divided on independence

• The Valls manual: shaking fists and refusing a handshake

The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Junqueras asks for MEP appeal to be sent urgently to EU court in Luxembourg

• Battle lost

• Boye speaks of next steps to allow vetoed Catalan MEPs to beat Spanish blockade

Other news and comment

• ‘Italy is not Salvini’: Catalan NGO docks in Naples to defend sea rescue

• French president Macron’s party questions Ciudadanos for talks with far right

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June 15 | Trial awaiting sentence

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News and comment on trial

• With the Catalan trial over, what now?

• The defendants’ democratic convictions

• Five talking points from the defendants' closing remarks in the Catalan trial

• We'll do it again, the end

• Catalan president says right to fair trial was violated

• Catalan Ombudsman calls for dialogue for independence conflict as trial ends

The campaign to stop elected Catalan representatives from taking up their seats

• Oriol Junqueras refused permission to be sworn-in as MEP

• Official State Gazette names Puigdemont, Comín and Junqueras as MEPs

• Puigdemont and Comín have to go to Madrid to take their seats as MEPs

• Exiled former officials call on Supreme Court to withdraw arrest warrants

• Catalan prisoner Forn back in Catalonia to take seat on Barcelona city council

But it did not event attempt to prevent Oriol Junqueras from standing, taking for granted that he was entitled to do so and, consequently, enjoyed the right to be elected as a Member of the European Parliament.

The Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to allow Oriol Junqueras to enter the headquarters of the Central Electoral Commission in order to swear allegiance to the Constitution and consequently take up his seat in the European Parliament constitutes a clear violation of the Constitution and of the Electoral Law. The Supreme Court cannot be ignorant of the content and scope of the right recognised in article 23 of the Constitution. It cannot be ignorant of the content and scope of the right to the presumption of innocence, which has not ceased given that Oriol Junqueras has not been convicted by a final judgement. Its decision to refuse to allow him to enter the headquarters of the Central Electoral Board to swear allegiance to the Constitution is a “knowingly” unfair decision.

As soon as he is notified of the Supreme Court’s decision, Oriol Junqueras is entitled to bring an action against the corresponding members of the court for knowingly issuing an unfair decision which has prevented him from exercising a fundamental right.

The said action should be registered forthwith in the European Parliament in order to ensure that the institution is immediately aware of the violation of the fundamental rights of an elected parliamentarian who appears as such in the list published by Spain’s Official State Gazette, and who is the victim of an attempt, by means of anti-constitutional trickery, to prevent him from acquiring the said status. A request should be made for the European Parliament to address the matter as soon as it is constituted.

The European Parliament cannot fail to debate the most flagrant aggression that can be perpetrated against one of its members: that of preventing them from being one.

To date, as far as I know, in no Member State of the European Union has an elected parliamentarian who has not been convicted by a final judgement been prevented from taking up their seat. In my opinion, we are dealing with a breach of European Union law by the Spanish State.

In this respect, it is necessary to examine how to bring the said breach before the European Court of Justice. No appeal of this kind has ever been lodged and the legal route for doing so is unclear.

It is such an extraordinary case that it has never even occurred to anyone that such an appeal might be lodged. But once lodged, it is clear that European Union law must respond and that it must be possible to demand that the said response be effective.

The action against the judges of the Supreme Court for knowingly issuing an unfair decision must be the starting point of a long legal battle. The Supreme Court’s decision cannot be accepted under any circumstances.

Translation: 'Number Six', lightly amended by Green Left Weekly European Bureau

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Who will run Barcelona Council?

• Ada Colau expected to renew her post as mayor of Barcelona

• The play reaches its end

• Operation Manuel Valls: how his Barcelona campaign was funded

Other news and comment

• Ricardo Patiño: “Granting Assange political asylum was the right decision, as will be proven soon”

• Catalan government to increase presence beyond Europe

• Spain’s far right gets the PP’s thumbs-up

• French president Macron's party warns Citizens amid negotiations to form local and regional governments

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June 12 | Day 52: Defence Counsel summing up (day two). Final statements of the accused. Trial set for sentencing

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For general coverage of the day's proceedings in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Final Day 52 – defence summaries and defendants’ final statements

• The Catalan independence trial, over until judges decide on their sentences

For more detailed coverage go to:

Marina Roig (defence counsel for Jordi Cuixart)

• Activist Cuixart’s lawyer cites international law to defend peaceful resistance

• Marina Roig: "The Constitution cannot be understood without the mobilisations of the seventies"

Olga Arderiu (defence counsel for Carme Forcadell)

• Former speaker tried ‘for who she is, and not for what she did,’ says defense

• Arderiu says Carme Forcadell is being judged "not for what she did, but for who she is"

Final statements of accused

• Sentence pending after 4 months and 52 sessions of Catalan trial

• The defendants refute rebellion and sedition charges in their closing remarks at the Supreme Court

• Forcadell: "I am being tried for who I am, not for my actions"

• Romeva: "I call on all democrats to build a world in which there are no political trials"

Other news and comment

• The Catalan rebellion: the violent uprising that no one saw

• What a group of lawyers!

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June 11 | Day 51: Defence Counsel summing up (day one)

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For general coverage of the day's proceedings in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 51 – defence summaries

• A verdict to resolve the Catalonia conflict, with a wink to Spanish nostalgia

For more detailed coverage go to:

Andreu van den Eynde (defence counsel for Raül Romeva and Oriol Junqueras)

• Catalan trial lawyer Van den Eynde: "An ideology is being persecuted"

• Defense lawyer accuses Spain’s public prosecutor of bias and exaggeration

• Van den Eynde: "This is an opportunity to return the resolution of the conflict to politics"

Xavier Melero (defence counsel for Joaquim Forn and Meritxell Borràs)

• Xavier Melero: "Mister Forn disobeyed the Constitutional Court"

• Catalonia never declared independence, defense lawyer tells Supreme Court

Jordi Pina (defence counsel for Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull)

• Events in 2017 were not uprisings but peaceful demonstrations, defense tells court

• Pina: "No rebellion, no sedition, no misuse of funds. But Catalans protesting, yes"

• Pina denies rebellion and sedition: "Those are not uprisings. Those are protests and demonstrations"

Other news and comment

• National minority and right to self-determination: it is important to get the message right

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June 10 | Court not sitting

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 17

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Other news and comment

• Final days in the Supreme Court for the 12 accused Catalan leaders

• The mayor of the 'Indignados', four years later

• Pledge of allegiance to Spanish flag to be held in Schleswig-Holstein festival

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Week ending June 9

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June 9 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Ada Colau: "All votes in my favour in the mayoral investiture are welcome"

• Arrest warrants for Catalan exiles could be reactivated after verdict, says lawyer

• The trial reaches its end

• Manuel Valls "unable to hide" his concern about Citizens negotiating with Vox

• Ciudadanos lifts veto on far-right Vox, while Valls gives support to leftist Colau

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June 8 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Juncker to receive Nicola Sturgeon with Scotland's second referendum in the air

• When did Colau cross the Rubicon?

• Want a job in Catalan justice? Learn English or Russian rather than Catalan

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June 7 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Acting Barcelona mayor, closer to staying in power despite coming second in election

• Spanish consul general to Scotland fired

• EU institutions pull out of award event because prize features yellow ribbon

• PP and far-right Vox agree to govern together on councils where they have majorities

• NGO denounces presence of minors, lack of interpreters and inadequate medical care at migrant detention centre

• European Parliament and Commission avoid awards ceremony over yellow ribbon

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June 6 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spanish government rejects meeting with Catalan president over referendum trial

• Fifth European Parliament vice-president asks Tajani for an explanation

• Catalan deputy meets Spanish king, gives him copy of UN working group report

• Putin on Catalan conflict: 'We're not interested in seeing European countries disintegrate'

• Ada Colau sets sights on leading Barcelona again, despite not winning election

• Colau's recoil doesn't impress her voters

• The Catalan who made D-Day possible

• Spain’s hooligan diplomacy strikes again, on D-Day

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June 5 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Felipe VI hopes "tensions will lower" in Catalonia

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June 4 | Day 50: Summaries of the Prosecutor-General's office, the Solicitor-General's office and the popular prosecution

---

For general coverage of the day's proceedings in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 50 summary

• Summary of the afternoon session of day 50 of the Catalan Trial

For more detailed coverage go to:

• Supreme Court prosecutors accuse Catalan prisoners of a coup d'état

• Spain’s public prosecutor justifies rebellion charges: ‘It was a violent coup d’etat’

• Catalan referendum was no violent rebellion says Spain’s solicitor general

• An admonitory and dissuasive punishment for the future

• Yes, they are political prisoners. And no, they didn’t stage a coup

Other news and comment

• Spain's Supreme Court agrees with Franco's version of history

• European Parliament vice-presidents call on Tajani to explain Catalan MEPs-elect decision

• Franco untouched: Spain’s Supreme Court suspends exhumation

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June 3 | Court not sitting

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 16

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Other news and comment

• Who will be the next mayor of Barcelona?

• Spain acts desperately by criticising UN report on Catalan political prisoners

• Catalan business minister on companies leaving Catalonia

• Jordi Sànchez refused permission to represent JxCat at meeting with king Felipe VI

• Only 12% of Catalan firms comply with equality laws, says report

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Week ending June 2

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June 2 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• UN exposes Spain’s isolationism 

• Emmerson to Pedro Sánchez: "You can't shrug off your political responsibilities"

• Emmerson: "Spain is acting like a rogue state", telling "deliberate lies" to UN

• Bosch: "The UN says Spain is not upholding human rights, and that is devastating."

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June 1 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Strasbourg, July 2nd: Catalan groups call protest on EU Parliament opening day

• Independence camp plans protest in Strasbourg for EU parliament inauguration

• Carlin: "If the prisoners are found guilty, there'll be an international uproar"

• Sánchez's silence on Catalonia disappoints meeting of Barcelona business elite

• The Catalan businesspeople and Pedro Sánchez

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May 31 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spain demands that two members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention be disqualified

• MEPs write to EU Ombudswoman in defence of Catalan colleagues

• Puigdemont case: Tajani digs himself deeper to hide discrimination

• Spain gets worst democracy score in 40 years

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May 30 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Survey: Spain would prefer a coalition government without pro-independence parties

• Puigdemont, Comín file formal complaint over European Parliament's "discriminatory treatment"

• European Parliament revokes provisional accreditation for all Spain's MEPs-elect

• Jailed leader likely to be barred from meeting monarch

• Spain casts doubt on impartiality of Catalan political prisoners report by UN

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May 29 | Day 49: Third day of documentation of evidence phase of trial--defence videos

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For general coverage of this process in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 49 summary

For more detailed coverage go to:

• The defence videos are available here (commentary in Catalan)

• Cuixart's defense seeks his release based on the UN experts' report

• October 1 baton charges are finally displayed in the Supreme Court

• The Prosecutor's Office confirms the accusation of rebellion against pro-independence leaders

• Tension, insults and an absence of baton charges in the videos of October 1 submitted by the State Attorney General

• Melero shows violent protests in Spain before the Supreme Court to contrast them with October 1

Civil Guards on their way to Catalonia for October 1, 2017 referendum, chanting "Go get 'em" and singing the Spanish national anthem with wording from the Franco era

• Prosecutors uphold charges of rebellion, misuse of public funds in Catalan trial

Other news and comment

• Puigdemont and Comín stopped by European Parliament from getting credentials as MEPs-elect

• Catalan prisoner Raül Romeva suspended from seat in Spanish Senate

• UN Working Group calls for immediate release of three Catalan prisoners

• Response to the UN Working Group

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May 28 | Day 48: Second day of documentation of evidence phase of trial--prosecution videos

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For general coverage of this process in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 48 summary

For more detailed coverage go to:

• Prosecutors unable to give details of videos shown as evidence in Catalan trial

Other news and comment

• Is Colau trying to oust Maragall?

• Judge lifts year-long confinement of pro-independence activist

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May 27 | Day 47: First day of documentation of evidence phase of trial

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For general coverage of this process in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 47 summary

For more detailed coverage go to:

• Melero to Marchena on the documentary evidence phase: "I do not understand this procedure"

• The defence counsels challenge the documents of the "general and prospective case" of Court number 13

• Marchena refuses to confront Pérez de los Cobos and Ferran López

• The State Attorney General displays videos of 20 September and 1 October and states being unable to identify them clearly in the Supreme Court

• Prosecution video exhibits fail to include footage of police charging voters on Catalan referendum day

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 15

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Other news and comment

• Banner for release of imprisoned Catalan politicians returns to government palace

  Screenshot_2019-05-30 Banner for release of imprisoned Catalan politicians returns to government palace.png

  

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Week ending May 26

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May 26 | Court not sitting--European elections and local council and regional elections in the Spanish state

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Other news and comment

RESULTS FOR CATALONIA

• Municipal elections

• European elections

• Barcelona: Ernest Maragall noses ahead of Ada Colau to win tight Barcelona mayoral race

• Puigdemont and Maragall lead a pro-independence victory in Catalonia and Barcelona

• The Madrid of the right sours Pedro Sánchez's election night

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May 25 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Òmnium claims 'state operation' aimed to criminalize its head after his arrest

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May 24 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spanish Congress speakership panel suspends imprisoned Catalan deputies

  Ferreres_2237786559_62923770_766x380.jpg

  

  Supreme Court judge Marchena: "I'll leave them with you. According to your regulation they have to be suspended. And, above all, make sure the separation of powers is clear." Batet (PSOE Congress speaker): "Understood." (Ferreres, Ara)

• Spanish Congress studying effects of suspending Catalan prisoners

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May 23 | Day 46: Testimony of defence witnesses Josefina Valls, Xavier Urios, Pau Villoria and Josep Solà. Testimony of expert witnesses Carlos Javier Irisarri, José Manuel Cámara, Jordi Duatis, Joan Güell, Civil Guards TIP S51761E, TIP R92560Q,  Xavier Crusi, Ferran Caballero,  Gemma Rigau, José Navarro and Rubèn Pujol (graphics here)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 46 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• Four experts assess the amount of public funds assigned to October 1 at at least 917,000 Euros

  Defence lawyers reacting to philologist.jpg

  

  Defence counsel reacting with amusement as expert witness and philologist Gemma Rigau explains the errors in Civil Guard translation of Catalan into Spanish

• Experts take the stand in Catalan trial after three months of witness testimonies

• Expert witnesses face-to-face in the Catalan trial

• Surprise in the Supreme Court: the State Attorney General ends up renouncing the expert witness on the "Enfocats" document and the Moleskine agenda

• What financial cost did the use of polling stations on 1-O imply?

Other news and comment

• If what is happening in Spain wasn't happening in Spain ...

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May 22 | Day 45: Testimony of defence witnesses Jordi Martínez, Ricard Gené, Rosa Maria Sans, Enric Vinaixa and Àngel Cortadelles.  Testimony of expert witnesses Maria del Carmen Tejera, Sara Izquierdo, Teresa Cecilia Hernández, Mercedes Vega, John Paul Lederach and Jesús Castañar Pérez (graphics here)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 45 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• The defence counsels attempt to challenge an Inland Revenue report, but Marchena refuses

• Experts take the stand in Catalan trial after three months of witness testimonies

Other news and comment

• Imprisoned Catalan minister Jordi Turull's account of opening of new Spanish Congress

• “F*** you, scumbag!”: PP senator brags about interrupting jailed former MEP Raül Romeva

• New Spanish Congress returns question on suspending prisoners to the Supreme Court

• Dignity and disgrace, the story of a sad day

• Spanish prosecutor demands immediate suspension of elected political prisoners

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May 21 | Court not sitting—Spanish Congress and Senate inaugural session

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Other news and comment

• Videos: The Catalan political prisoners in the Spanish Congress and Senate

turull-rull-sanchez-congres-efe.jpeg

Catalan political prisoner MPs Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Jordi Sànchez in the Spanish Congress, seated alongside Alberto Garzón of Unidas Podemos (left).

• The prisoners take Catalonia's exceptional political situation into Spain's Congress

• New legislature starts in Spain's Congress with political prisoners as deputies

• Storm over Junqueras' "we need to talk" to Sánchez

• A prisoner and a returned exile in the Spanish Senate

• Catalan Socialists Batet and Cruz confirmed as Spanish parliament and senate speakers

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May 20 | Court not sitting

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 14

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Other news and comment

• Leader of European Greens defends prisoners' rights, argues for dialogue

• Survey: Pro-independence parties could get majority of votes in Barcelona

• Was the Catalan government a criminal ring pursuing independence?

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Week ending May 19

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May 19 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spanish state solicitors want to add new evidence to referendum spending charges

• Telepolis: "No matter who governs in Spain, the response is always repression"

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May 18 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Judges association sees danger in Spanish court's veto of Catalan language

• Van den Eynde believes court is about to suspend Catalan prisoners from elected posts

• Sánchez aims to block out the independence parties

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May 17 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Survey: Puigdemont to win European election in Barcelona 

• Sebastià Alzamora: The Catalan Referendum: the Spanish Public Prosecutor's Office accepts the far-right party’s version of events

• Disquiet in Madrid over Catalonia motion in the Bundestag

• The Catalan cause, in the Bundestag

• Catalan lawmakers to head both Spain’s congress and senate

• The demographic ‘tic toc’ and Catalonia’s independence

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May 16 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Catalan Parliament blocks Spanish PM's nominee for speaker of the Senate

• First reading in Bundestag of motion on Catalonia

• Puigdemont files lawsuit against Spanish electoral authority

• Catalan lawmakers to head both Spain’s congress and senate

• Leo Messi receives one of Catalonia’s highest civil awards

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May 15 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• EU election debate stricken by veto on jailed and exiled leaders

• Spanish Prosecutor's Office seeks organized crime charges against officials indicted over Catalan referendum

• Exclusive: Former Catalan minister Forn's first interview in 562 days, live from prison

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May 14 | Day 44: Testimony of defence witnesses Ramon Font, Marina Garcés, Lluís Matamala, Jaume Pich, Sílvia Carmona, Mercè Torras, Jordi Pesarrodona, Joan Badia, Magdalena Clarena, Jordi Meca, Santiago Guerra, Montserrat Vintró, María Luisa Carrillo, Esther Raya, Pere Sol, Mercè Arderiu, Lluís Corominas and Anna Simó (graphics here)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 44 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• A pending cup of coffee with Cuixart and the perception of October 1: Marchena scolds Salellas and Garcés

• "You, the famous guy": the Guardia Civil to the alderman with the clown nose on October 1

• "Much better": the judge’s comment that could annul the Catalan trial

• Defense lawyer accuses Supreme Court judge of 'violating fundamental rights'

Other news and comment

• Spain's Supreme Court says it doesn't need Congress's permission to continue with Catalan trial

• Catalan speaker meets Council of Europe human rights commissioner

• President Torra appears in court in disobedience case

• Cross-party manifesto against far-right Vox in Catalonia

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 13

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 43 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• Asens: "Our commitment towards October 1 was very clear, unlike what they say"

• Boya accuses the National Police of overacting by leaving CUP headquarters on 20S

  Mireia Boya.jpg

  

  Former CUP MP Mireia Boya, accompanied by her lawyer, gives evidence

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Week ending May 12

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May 12 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Medieval monastery sprayed with Spanish nationalist graffiti on eve of festival

• Locals defend their 'estelades' in Catalan town against extremist flag-remover group

• Catalan police clear a protest campsite in defense of housing rights on Barcelona’s Gran Vía

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May 11 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Oxford Union invites Puigdemont to speak as "Head of the Catalonian Resistance"

• Barcelona’s metro workers strike against asbestos found in underground system

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May 10 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Barcelona Chamber of Commerce goes pro-independence

• And the establishment lost the Chamber of Commerce, a jewel in its crown

• Law professor argues Catalan pro-independence leaders are illegally imprisoned

• Centre of Opinion Studies Survey: ERC, PSOE and JxCat fighting to win European election in Catalonia (see survey results in English here and graphic here)

• Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, senior figure in Spain's PSOE, dies

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 42 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• Marchena corrects himself and allows the defence to ask about incidents in a hotel in Calella

Other news and comment

• Spain's Constitutional Court rejects appeals to block Puigdemont from standing as MEP

• Survey: Puigdemont, Junqueras to win European Parliament seats, PSOE largest party in Spain

• An historic opportunity for the Spanish left

• Puigdemont to visit London, Berlin and Ljubljana during EU election campaign

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 41 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• An October 1 voter from La Pobla de Mafumet: "Fortunately, we did not have any visitors"

Other news and comment

• Spain's Congress prepares for Catalan prisoners to arrive as deputies

• Catalan political prisoners request release to take up their seats as MPs

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 40 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• An October 1 voter says that Guardia Civil officers harassed her and called her "retarded"

• Joan BonaNit ["Good night" Joan] reveals his identity and meets the prisoners for the first time in the Supreme Court

• ‘They grabbed me by the testicles and threw me to the ground’ - Catalan Trial day 40

Other news and comment

• Viggo Mortensen: “Vox’s political and media blunder”

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May 6 | Day 39: Testimony of defence witnesses Josep Guillot, Sergi Pla, Irineu Alvarado, Mossos d'Esquadra numbers 9823, 5422 and 5834, Xavier Trias, Pere Miralles, Antoni Morral, Jordi Vilarasau and Javier Pacheco

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 39 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• The head of the Catalan Police Mobile Intervention Brigade on Jordi Sànchez's attitude on September 20: from "arrogant" to "conciliatory"

• Marchena scolds Roig: "One cannot come to the Supreme Court to read trade union manifestos"

Other news and comment

• The justice system plays pass the parcel to not admit Puigdemont's right

• Carles Puigdemont can stand in European election, court decides

• Spain’s Electoral Board: a biased, politically contaminated arbiter

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International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 12

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Week ending May 5

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May 5 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Exiled Toni Comín attends Mauthausen homage "representing the Catalan Republic"

• Puigdemont 'eligible', says Supreme Court – but issue back to Madrid court

• Data analyst Joe Brew: Five lies about the Catalan independence movement

• Spanish minister walks out on Nazi camp tribute after Catalan prisoners mentioned

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Carles Puigdemont on the April 28 Spanish election

While exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont responds to El Nacional's questions, in the front room a meeting of the exile body Council of the Republic is starting. On the street, a group of Catalans with pro-independence estelada flags and yellow scarves are being photographed in front of the building, in defiance of the rain. The image has become commonplace and breaks the monotony of this residential neighbourhood in Waterloo, Belgium. And in addition, this time, the visitors are about to get a surprise when the door opens and the president steps out to greet them.

From this office, flooded with daylight through its large windows, Puigdemont keeps a close eye on the movements of Pedro Sánchez in Madrid. He considers we'll have to wait until after the May 26th municipal and European elections to find out the Socialists' real intentions, but he predicts a coalition government with left-wing Podemos as a response to the results of last week's Spanish general election. The Catalan president advises Sánchez that he needs to assume a historical responsibility for understanding Catalonia's stubborn and persistent reality and responding to it. He assures that JxCat has the door open to dialogue.

This contention that you have with the Spanish state occurs just as Europe has seen Pedro Sánchez's PSOE victorious in the Spanish election, and successful in curbing the extreme right...
It is a bit odd if Pedro Sanchez is given the credit for curbing the far right. If we look at the map of Spain, basically the far right has been stopped in the Basque Country and Catalonia.

Is this Europe's reading of the results too?
I don't know. But there is one current of interpretation of the results that warns that it will be difficult to govern. The two major Spanish groups, PSOE and PP, the largest party and the main opposition party, had 222 deputies in the previous legislature. Now they have a total of 188. That is, the political architecture of the establishment has been diminished. There is much more fragmentation and power is distributed more widely. Pedro Sánchez will have to make decisions, if he wants to govern alone or in coalition, and with whom. All these decisions have consequences. Governing alone is risky from the point of view of stability.

Would it be stable to govern with the support of the pro-independence groups?
Sanchez should govern in a coalition with Podemos.

Do you support a coalition with Podemos, then?
Seen from the outside, the Spanish political map seems to call for a coalition government. There's never been one. This coalition must necessarily be with Podemos.

There's also Ciudadanos...
Yes, however, a coalition with Cs would be a colossal step backwards, it would be going back beyond several starting blocks.

But with Podemos, the total of seats don't add up to a majority...
I'm not telling Mr. Pedro Sánchez what to do. I'm only saying that it is not the same governing alone, as it is trying to form a coalition with Podemos, or settling the government with Ciudadanos, which is what the establishment is calling for... It's not the same.

The Ciudadanos option is also the one that PSOE party activists called to be rejected on election night...
On election nights, people call for all sorts of things ...

Is blockage of the Spanish government an objective of the pro-independence parties?
Blockage has never been an option. We will block the culture of article 155, and what it represents: repression, persecution of the Catalan language, the threats against language immersion in schools, against the public media model in Catalonia, against the Mossos d'Esquadra police... And what are we going to unblock? The thing that allows this [155 culture] to be blocked. At long last, let's unblock democracy so that we can establish the dialogue that Catalan society demands in order to vote in a self-determination referendum.

How do you unblock democracy?
You don't unblock democracy with the Criminal Code, by jailing political leaders - some of whom win elections and are elected as deputies and senators - by trying them on rebellion charges for having done what voters asked them to do... Who is it that has been blocking democracy for a long time? The Spanish state.

How can it be unblocked?
By doing politics.

Could doing politics mean a pardon for the prisoners?
The menu for doing politics is much more complex. The prisoners have always said they don't want to be bargaining chips.

What does Puigdemont think?
The same thing that I told Rajoy and Pedro Sánchez. To do the favour of listening and respecting. What is it they have not yet understood of the message that Catalans have sent?

With prisoners and exile it is very difficult to solve anything ...
The prisoners and exiles don't want to be bargaining chips for anything.

Is it possible for ERC and JxCat to negotiate self-determination with the Spanish government, while some continue in jail and others in exile? Is it possible?
When there was no one in exile or prison, there was no negotiation then, either. They still refused everything completely. It isn't this that has caused dialogue to be blocked. It isn't this which makes the difference. What makes the difference is if the Spanish government finally decides to act as an exemplary, full, mature and European democracy. Scotland's First Minister announced a referendum on independence four days ago. I haven't heard anyone from the United Kingdom accusing her of staging a coup.

But all that you're demanding, how should it be done specifically? What do you expect Pedro Sanchez to do?
The one who has to make a move is Pedro Sánchez. It isn't us who are not candidates to be prime minister. It is for Pedro Sánchez to read the results and assume a responsibility that he has, historically, of being prime minister in a Spanish Parliament under these present conditions. It is up to him to read the reality. It is a stubborn reality in the case of Catalonia, persistent. Since I don't know what he'll say, we must be prudent.

Is there any interlocutor mediating between Puigdemont and Sánchez?
No.

Could there be?
That doesn't depend on me.

It depends only on him?
Exactly.

On Puigdemont's part would there be any problem ...
There has never been any. I opened the door to Inés Arrimadas here! I have no problem.

So, is there nothing decided on the issue of the investiture of the Spanish government? Is it all open?
Imagine that Pedro Sánchez proposed a self-determination referendum, how could we say no to his investiture? On the other hand, if he says he wants us to invest him as PM because he wants to govern alone but wants to pass budgets with Ciudadanos. It's not the same, is it?

But there's one thing that we do know. He's already said that there won't be a referendum.
You know what I'd like to know about Mr. Pedro Sánchez? What he'll say the day after the European and municipal elections, because we're still in a campaign period.

If Pedro Sánchez says there won't be a referendum, president Puigdemont, what would you prefer JxCat to do? Should they vote no, along with the PP and Cs? Should they abstain?
What I will say if the deputies ask me for my opinion, I will say after the European elections, because all that we could say today and until the elections is part of the election campaign. Pedro Sánchez says one thing now and he may end up doing another, as he has done in the past.

Could a return to talks, and to the figure of a rapporteur, which was raised after the 2018 meeting in Pedralbes, be a starting point?
The person who left the table was Pedro Sánchez. But since we aren't yet at that point, we don't know which Pedro Sanchez will go up to the lecturn in Congress to ask for investiture votes. Whether he'll have the word 'no' tattooed on his forehead. Whether or not he's got free from the [Socialist regional] barons. If he has caved in to the pressures of the Ibex 35 [business lobby]... Doing politics means that, not putting the cart in front of the horse... it means waiting. What are we talking about? To vote for Pedro Sánchez as prime minister come what may, whatever happens? I didn't think it was a plebiscite on Mr. Pedro Sánchez. We have expressed ourselves in an election campaign and if Pedro Sánchez knows how to read what is happening in Catalonia, he'll make a speech. We'll be open to what he says.

Do you expect him to call JxCat to the round of talks, on forming the government, that he's to start on Monday?
He's obliged to do so.

And who has to to go?
Jordi Sànchez has to go. We have won a political position. We have our votes there. Our deputies will do politics. And the president of the political group will be Jordi Sànchez. Mr. Sànchez - Pedro - will have to go and see Mr. Sánchez - Jordi. And he'll have to negotiate even if he doesn't like it. Saying that I won't speak with these people because I don't like what they support is very undemocratic. Recognition of the other means this: respecting the position of someone who has beaten you through a contention and who you don't like at all, but who is there as a legitimate representative of the people.

You've said that you're following the referendum trial in the Supreme Court. What do you think?
Seen from here, the sensation is of a farce. A shameful farce. Europeans with whom we speak about it are outraged. When the verdict comes out, that will be the moment when things are made clear.

What did you feel when Major Trapero of the Mossos d'Esquadra testified that he had a plan to arrest you?
Trapero has been a loyal servant of the government of Catalonia. He has been exemplary, a great police officer. I have a great personal and professional respect for him. And I always told him that he had to do his job and I had to do mine. Beyond that, naturally he never informed me that he had a plan to arrest me. That would have been the last thing! What kind of police officer would he have been if he had told me! That speaks to his professionalism. I didn't know. I should also say that I wasn't surprised either. If they had received a judicial instruction, the Mossos knew what they had to do. I never asked them to do what they couldn't do, so it hurts me that someone like Trapero is being prosecuted. It is a complete scandal, a disgrace.

The then Spanish PM and his deputy, Rajoy and Saénz de Santamaria, denied that there had been contacts with the Catalan government. Did they lie to the court?
In democratic countries, perjury is a crime. As the Spanish state is moving away from democratic standards, I don't know what will happen. My vision is another.

What is your vision?
It is clear that there were intermediaries [between Spanish and Catalan governments], that there were proposals. To avoid the declaration of independence on October 10th 2017 there was an exchange of messages...

Between whom?
Between the Spanish executive and the Catalan government. Until the 10th, they were telling me that the Spanish Government was prepared to open a dialogue if on the 10th we didn't vote for a declaration of independence and do something that was irreversible.

Do you have these messages?
I have all the documentation, the notes ... and there are plenty of witnesses to all this. In the PP and the Socialist party. This will have to be told at the right moment, it can't be before the verdict, and with a historical perspective, not to stir up arguments or sell books for Sant Jordi.

In fact, Basque leader Iñigo Urkullu also declared in the Supreme Court trial and gave details of those contacts...
And has anyone opened due diligence for perjury against Rajoy and Santamaría? Does anyone trust the State to ensure that this is a fair trial?

Did you the suspend the declaration of independence because of those talks?
If I thought the desire for dialogue was genuine and, therefore, accepted something as painful for me as suspending the declaration of independence, it was because there were elements that made me think that there could be an effective, fruitful and powerful dialogue. And among those elements on the table was the political value of the 1st October referendum. What could the Catalan Parliament do with the referendum? That was talked about. Having the possibility of establishing talks on the substantive issue, it seemed to me that I had to make a gesture. I made the gesture, I did what I had to; they didn't.

Why did it all get derailed?
They were probably already deceiving me. That's why the requirement for an independent rapporteur is essential. It's the minimum, because we can't trust each other. That's why we can't understand what happened on October 27th 2017 if we don't take into account what happened before the 10th. Either there had to be clear guarantees that Article 155 would not be applied or there would be no possibility of me callling Catalan elections. And I always spoke in these terms to everyone.

When on October 27th you announced that you were calling elections, three leaders of the PP appeared saying that article 155 would be applied, with elections or without ...
To them it was all the same. With a declaration of independence or without it, article 155 would have been applied equally. The decision had been made before and I think it was confirmed on October 3rd.

Was the declaration of October 27th a declaration of independence?
Yes. It was a declaration by Parliament that only the Parliament of Catalonia has the authority to revoke.

It was not implemented, the Spanish flag was not lowered, the decrees weren't signed...
It's a public and well-known fact that there was a declaration of independence. It was a parliamentary motion and what is agreed to by Parliament can only be revoked by Parliament. And since the elections on 21st December 2017, what Parliament has done has really been to confirm the mandate of 1st October.

An explosive issue - unfolding simultaneously with the recording and publishing of this interview: Spain's Central Electoral Commission decided last Monday to exclude Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí from the candidatures for the European Parliament arguing that they did not meet the eligibility requirements. On Thursday, while Puigdemont was responding to El Nacional's interview questions in Waterloo, the JxCat party appealed the decision; on Friday, the public prosecutor's office came out in opposition to the Electoral Commission; and on Sunday, the Spanish Supreme Court is meeting urgently to rule on the question. Following yesterday's first part, here's the second half of our interview with the exiled Catalan president: 

The decision of the Electoral Commission to bar the way to your candidacy for the European elections has opened a new conflict with the Spanish state. In a matter of hours, the response to the appeals will be given...
It's very clumsy. The State has committed prevarication, it has flagrantly violated the law, even embarrassing some of those taking part in the strategy directed against us. The dissenting vote on the Commission, which includes its president and vice president, is not an anecdote. It is very significant. The argument itself is, too. The lengths they have gone to, to force, violate, or breach their own legislation. Those who say that the law is above even democracy, that without law there is no democracy. Well, they’ve destroyed their law.

Why?
Because they knew, as we already said, that if this game were played on neutral ground, that being Europe, where they had no advantage, where unionist political parties don’t nominate judges, ... the result would not be fruit of political pressure. And therefore they’ve used the Spanish section of this European itinerary, where they can exert influence politically. Whatever the result of the European elections, in Spain they are already contaminated.

Do you still trust in the possibilities of revoking the decision of the Commission?
Yes, the possibilities are there. We are defending them, fighting them. To be able to fight them, we had to present the candidature. If we hadn’t done so, we couldn’t be fighting it now. If we hadn’t published the list in the state gazette, with the [substitute] names we put in, we couldn’t be fighting that. We hope that this disgrace does not continue and we trust that the Supreme Court will revoke a clearly unfair decision.

But didn’t you expect them to try and eliminate your candidacy...?
Yes. We always think that they force the legal regime. They go to the limits and beyond. We see it every day of the trial. We've seen it for a year and a half. I was sacked illegally and illegitimately. The Catalan Parliament was dissolved illegally and illegitimately. So of course we expect this. The thing is, it has been shown that we are clear on the map. We said: if people vote for me, I will be able to be an MEP, and that is true.

And why hadn’t you already created a list to anticipate this possibility?
For a start, it’s outrageous that we are the only ones who have to compete in the elections with our hands tied behind our backs. It's an indecency, a disgrace. We’re the only ones who can’t compete on equal terms with the rest. We’ve been criminalized, we’ve been forced to make changes in the list that no other party has had to do. We are harmed by this operation, which is what the Spanish state wants. Why should we have to plan for the fact that the law will not be applied to us?These European elections will be a plebiscite on democracy. And it will not be the same to vote JxCat as to vote for anything else

In fact, Puigdemont already stood for the Catalan elections on 21st December 2017, without obstacles, and Clara Ponsatí herself appears on a municipal list for the 26th May, but she has been removed from the European elections...
Well, our duty is to defend democracy. Our duty is to denounce this and fight it and win at the polls. These elections will be a plebiscite on democracy. And it will not be the same to vote JxCat as to vote for anything else. Because in the vote for JxCat there is clearly a message of struggle and defence of democracy. And that has now become very clear. So, votes that are cast with the idea of defending democracy and defending Catalonia as the spearhead of the democratic defence of Europe now have a clear reference.

Is this a message aimed at ERC people?
No, it’s a message directed at the people of Catalonia. Even to Spanish voters, because we are present throughout Spain. And it's obvious. We didn’t decide that. Who is it that irritates Spain? The only ones they’ve tried to prevent from standing for election are us. They haven’t done it to anybody else. And they’ve done it in a very botched way.

And what hope do you have that Europe, which hasn’t listened much to Catalonia throughout history, will do so now, precisely when the extreme right is growing in Europe?
I don’t go along with the idea that somebody else will have to solve this someday, be it Madrid or Europe. We have to solve it. If we solve it, we maintain our position, we don’t retreat, if we continue defending the victory we had on 1st October 2017, it is much more possible that the international community will have its own discourse on this crisis.

If, as you say, nothing deters Spain, not even the rules and democracy, and they also have police and there were even PP leaders who said they had the army ready... Then how should this be done?
On 1st October we did it. We won and we didn’t need an army to win.

Yes, but now there are quite a few politicians and civic leaders in prison, quite a few in exile, quite a few have been fined...
Yes and repression that is continuing.

There is the other reading, made by, among others, Felipe González, that now, instead of being independent, [Catalonia] has less autonomy...
This has always been the threat that the Spanish state has tried to use to demobilize, to deter, to mitigate ... it worked for several decades. But it reached a point, which is the Constitutional Court ruling against Catalonia’s Autonomy Statute in 2010, when this strategy no longer worked for them because they blew autonomy apart. We weren’t asking for independence. They destroyed the constitutional pact itself. So what are they going to say? That we should be content with a downsized Statute? We ourselves had already cut it. Will they threaten to take over our powers? That the Catalan president can’t take a security bodyguard on a trip abroad? Ban the colour yellow? Penalize TV3 because it screened a programme they didn’t like? All this has already been done. The only alternative we have for national survival and social progress is to exercise the right to self-determination, which is what we did on 1st October.

And now in the European elections, what strategy will Puigdemont and JxCat follow?
If we ourselves can stand, the ministers Comín and Ponsatí and I, it’s not the same as if we can’t. But in any case, whether we ourselves stand or not, we will campaign. We have asked people to substitute us and they are doing so with conditions, that it is provisional and at a great personal sacrifice for them, and I would like to thank them. But we are aware that that is purely provisional. Therefore, we must continue to act as candidates. It makes more sense than ever that we ask for people’s votes to reject an attack on basic rights, which not only prevent us from being candidates, but prevents Catalans from being able to vote. This is what is serious. Violating active suffrage and passive suffrage. It is quite directly a torpedo against the fundamental rights of the EU. We won’t let it go by.

As part of the protest strategy, you’ve presented an initiative to suspend Spain’s voting rights on the European Commission...
The European playing field has different rules. For months we’ve been preparing this initiative. It's not easy. Constructing it from a legal and technical point of view is not easy. It is in the line of the work we said we would do from exile. We can do it. We can take it all the way. And we are doing it with the resources that we mobilize ourselves.

Does this initiative have to be accepted by the European Commission beforehand?
Indeed it does.

Do you see it as viable?
Absolutely viable, because there is a precedent.

But later it needs the support of all the Member States. There is a veto right...
Yes, but anyone who vetoes it, is shown up. It also serves that purpose. Is it or isn’t it in accordance with the fundamental rights of the EU? When there are a million European citizens who say they are worried and ask for a Member State not complying with the rules of the game to be confronted, this has an objective, which is to improve the rules of the game.

Translation: El Nacional

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May 4 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spanish Supreme Court to decide on ban to Puigdemont standing in EU election

• Survey: Ernest Maragall leads Colau and Collboni in a close Barcelona mayoral race

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May 3 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Prosecutor overturns ban on Puigdemont standing in European election

• Public Diplomacy Council (Diplocat) holds first event after forced closure

• Parliament will once again urge Spain to decriminalise euthanasia

• Puigdemont applies again to travel to Quebec after first attempt blocked

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Comment: Gonzalo Boye (El Nacional)

The right to have rights

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Gonzalo Boye, Carles Puigdemont's defence attorney

In the face of extraordinary situations we have to react first calmly, then with sights set high. The decision from a part of Spain's Central Electoral Commission (JEC) sets a novel precedent in the electoral history of the Spanish state and that of Europe too: the heads of the list for president Puigdemont's candidacy have been excluded, not for legal reasons, but for political ones, and that cannot be tolerated.

When this kind of absolutely scandalous arbitrary act happens, everyone is free to act as they feel best but, as I've always said, when it comes to human and civil rights, to remain equidistant is to be complicit and, in as far as it concerns me, I'll never become complicit to such abuses.

The JEC's decision is an injustice which, firstly, affects president Puigdemont and ministers Ponsatí and Comín in their right to passive suffrage, but which also, and with equal importance, affects the right of all Catalans and Spaniards to freely vote for whoever they want. It's called democratic pluralism and it affects everyone's rights because we're talking about a European election in which the whole of Spain is a single constituency.

There exists no legal impediment whatsoever for the three to stand in the election, like there existed none for Lluís Puig to stand in the recent general election, nor for Clara Ponsatí to stand in the upcoming local elections, nor for all of them to stand in the 2017 Catalan general election. There being no legal impediment, it's clear it's an arbitrary, aberrant and politically motivated decision which, moreover, was communicated to my clients at the last moment with the intention of even preventing the list they headed from standing.

The objective was to silence a significant portion of the Catalan electorate. You can agree or disagree with them, but what no democrat can tolerate is that this, or any other, sector of society, be it larger or smaller, should be prevented from having an electoral list which represents it and which it wants to vote for. It's no longer about political tastes or ideology, it's about democracy.

Since I took on the defence of the exiles, nothing has been easy, but everything we've done has been with the most absolute conviction of being on the right side of history. And I continue to think so. Events and the arbitrary and illegal way the JEC has acted, which it's not alone in, force us to take their defence to its fullest conclusions, not that it could be any other way, and, above all, accept the necessary personal and professional costs.

Human rights, and civil and political rights too, don't belong solely to the left, but to society as a whole, and the duty to defend them belongs to everyone. There won't exist an egalitarian, just and democratic society if all of us who make it up can't feel like part of it and have these rights recognised and guaranteed. As such, never can a membership card or ideological certificate be demanded to defend and protect the fundamental rights of those who have them under threat.

Many will have been surprised by my decision, but I believe that if they analyse what we've been doing and defending over this last year and a half, they'll find out that with my clients, who I'm also provisionally representing on the electoral list, I'm also united by a commitment to the defence of human rights, of civil and political rights and of the right of everyone to decide which in international law and the words of the European Court of Human Rights is called the "right to self-determination". Similarly, we're united by the belief that the best political system is democracy in the framework of a republic.

When coups d'état happen, or when the state runs its own coups, we always have to decide which side to stand on, and those of us who love freedom, democracy and fundamental rights cannot have any doubts as to which side that is. Nor can we, or we shouldn't, remain silent, because at times like this to be silent is to be complicit.

Make no mistake, this isn't about candidates or parties, it's simply about democracy or no democracy and, given the JEC's challenge, everyone will have to examine their conscience and decide where they want to stand. The JEC's decision turns the upcoming European election towards a framework of rectification which leaves no room for tactics or partisanship.

The list headed by president Puigdemont and ministers Ponsatí and Comín, whose defence I am entrusted with and who I'm provisionally substituting, is the victim of the JEC's reprisals in this election and, regardless of our ideological similarities or differences, knowing who the victims are, we should all know where to stand and who to support.

At its heart, at this point in the conflict and paraphrasing Hannah Arendt, what has to be determined here is whether we're in favour of or against the right to have rights, and if such a categorisation is also applicable to the president Puigdemont and his ministers or not. If so, any other debate is not only misguided but, moreover, leads us to be complicit with those who, in defence of the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation", are prepared to smash up even the things they claim to be defending.

Human rights, civil and political rights and the right to have rights have no flag, nor any party or ideology. They simply are. You decide, I've already done so.

Translation: El Nacional

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Comment ( Montse Riart, Ara)

The Catalan referendum on trial: the three questions which remain following the evidence given by 137 police officers

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May 2 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Puigdemont presents European Citizens' Initiative to suspend Spain's EU voting rights

• Heads of new government offices in Portugal, Central Europe and Baltics appointed

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May 1 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Former Slovenian foreign affairs minister Ivo Vajgl gets one of Catalonia’s highest civil distinctions

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Comment (Ara, May 1)

'We were beaten up': voters in the 2017 referendum speak of police violence

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 38 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• "Don't hit us": Catalan referendum voters begin to testify at Supreme Court trial

• A witness of October 1: "I remember the sound of batons cracking skulls open very clearly"

• The mayor of Sant Julià de Ramis: "Puigdemont did not show up on October 1. An army did"

Other news and comment

• Heads of Spanish electoral authority voted against Puigdemont MEP ban

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April 29 | Day 37: Testimony of defence witnesses Jordi Molinero, Isaac Peraire, Ivo Vajgl, Ana Gomes, Andrej Hunko, Manon Massé and Lluís Llach. For photos of all witnesses go to this page (in Catalan)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 37 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• Llach is "terribly sorry" for having suggested climbing onto the Civil Guard patrol car to the Jordis

• ERC: "If the king wants to meet with Oriol Junqueras, he will have to head himself to Soto del Real"

• Musician Lluís Llach to Vox lawyer at trial: "I’m a gay, pro-independence citizen"

Other news and comment

• Catalan exiled president banned from EU elections by Spain’s electoral authority

• Socialists intend to govern Spain on their own, says acting deputy PM

International Trial Watch Assessment, Week 11

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Week ending April 28--Spanish general election

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April 28 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Interactive Graphic: 2019 Spanish general election results

• ERC triumphs at a Spanish general election in Catalonia for the first time

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April 27 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• John Carlin: "Rosell's ordeal can only be explained by his presidency of Barça"

• Vetoing Puigdemont bid could oblige Spain to repeat European elections, says Comín

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April 26 | Court not sitting

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Other news and comment

• Spain, fourth-worst in EU in perception of judicial independence  

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"It's not patriotism, it's fascism": Femen activist being hustled off the stage at closing meeting of Vox election campaign

• Connections with prison and Switzerland to end ERC's Spanish general election campaign

• JxCat trusts its campaign to human drama and the "Puigdemont effect"

• The Rosell case, a scandal which tarnishes the image of Spanish justice

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April 25 | Day 36: Testimony of defence witnesses Jacint Jordana, Antoni Millet, Daniel Garcia, Gerardo Pisarello, Maite Aymerich, Fèlix Martí, Enoch Albertí, Joan Vintró, Jordi Armadans, Ruben Wagensberg, David Fernàndez, Jordi Orobitg, Bernat Picornell, Lluís Juncà, Quim Ayats and Teresa Vallverdú. For photos of all witnesses go to this page (in Catalan)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 36 summary

For more detailed coverage of various witness statements, go to:

• Wagensberg before the Supreme Court: "October 1 was the most important act of civil disobedience taking place in Europe"

• Marchena to Salellas over a testimony: "That is an insult towards the members of this court"

Spanish general election updates

• Casado says he would suspend Catalan autonomy in his first cabinet meeting

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  (The triple-headed monster campaigns) PP: "Vote for me and I'll get TV3 shut down" Citizens: "Vote for me and I'll close TV3 and the indoctrinating education system" Vox: "I'll close TV3, the schools and Barça". Average citizen: "Help!"

• Cs, PP try to prevent Puigdemont standing in the European election

Other news

• The Provincial Court wants to investigate whether the baton charges on October 1 in Barcelona were disproportionate

• Former Barça president Sandro Rosell acquitted after 21 months in prison without bail

• Spanish Constitutional Court backs language policy in Catalonia’s schools

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April 24 | Day 35: Testimony of Xavier Barragan, Antón Raventós, Rafael Ramírez, Joan Ignasi Elena, Neus Lloveras, Albert Batlle, Jordi Solé and Anna Teixidó

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For general coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 35 summary

Other news

• Former Barça president Sandro Rosell acquitted after 21 months in prison without bail

• Catalan Government files lawsuit against shooting mockery

Comment

• Summary of the debate: insults, no proposals and anti-Catalanism and A true disgrace

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April 23 | Day 34: Testimony of National Police officer, David Badal, Josep Maria Cerveró, Joan Vidal, a member of the mediation team of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Pere Aragonès (held over), Francesc Xavier Pastor and Meritxell Ruíz

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International Trial Watch assessment, Week 10

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Screenshot_2019-04-26 Microsoft Word - 23 04 2019 Assessments-of-1-0-Trial-Week-10 docx - 23-04-2019-Assessments-of-1-0-Tri[...].png

Solidarity

• Portuguese politicians and intellectuals support "freedoms in Catalonia" (see manifesto in Portuguese here)

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For general coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 34 summary

For more detailed coverage of the testimony of Vidal and Jané go to:

• The former secretary of the Catalan Government says that October 1 was fostered as an attempt to "pressure" towards negotiations

For coverage of Catalan Vice-President Pere Aragonès's request not to testify, see:

• Aragonès makes use of his right not to take the stand due to the fact that he is under investigation from court number 13

Other news

• Catalan president Torra calls on the international community in English

• The observers accuse Marchena of promoting the "subjective tale" of the police officers

• Independence at center of televised debate – with no pro-independence parties

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April 22 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Puigdemont and Sànchez meet again, 553 days later: one in prison, one in exile

• Carles Puigdemont effigy burnt and shot in Seville

• Junqueras and Romeva from prison: "We're not renouncing anything"

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Week ending April 21

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April 21 | Court not sitting

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Latest poll for April 28 Spanish general election

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Other news

• Turull's first campaign event from prison: "Long live free Catalonia"

• French senator: "Spain isn't a democracy as far as justice is concerned"

• This is a delightful Easter tradition in a tranquil #Andalusia town

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April 20 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Junqueras: ERC won't allow a far-right government in Spain

• When the state accepts its disgrace 

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April 19 | Court not sitting

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Latest poll for April 28 Spanish general election

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April 18 | Court not sitting

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Latest poll for April 28 Spanish general election

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Other news

• Interview with Oriol Junqueras

• Jordi Sànchez's conciliatory tone in press conference from prison

• International observers from Quebec raise concerns over referendum trial

• April 28 election: What do Spanish parties propose for Catalonia?

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April 17 | Day 33: Testimony of National Police officers 94.670, 76.753, 76.766, 99.306, 110.120, 110.336, 71.004, 72862, 102764, 113.391, 77.795, 93.178, 107.387, 94.601, 81.119, 101.381 and 118.664

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 33 summary

• The Supreme Court summons the same police officer twice and nobody notices until he is about to give his statement

• Judge Marchena grinds to a halt during the police marathon

Other news

• Spanish government shows Catalonia the path to follow: negotiate devolved powers

• Council of Europe to study if Catalan prisoners have been unfairly prosecuted

• The battle for Catalan votes: independence parties vs the Socialists

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April 16 | Day 32: Testimony of National Police officers 102.476, 82279, 119.763, 56.742, 93.493, 83.553, 92600, 100775, 99.874, 97.881, 74.151, 101.667, 87.487, 95.458, 99.594, 93.294, 75.085, 105.265, 109.541, 120.953 and 87.688

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 32 summary

• "They threw motorcycles at us": the police officers' narrative of the alleged violence on 1-O

• The observers believe that the Supreme Court "tends to only listen" to the narrative of violence

Other news

• Seven questions on the role of Catalonia in the April 28 Spanish election

• Junqueras to be allowed to hold press conference from prison

• Catalonia recovers its Public Diplomacy Council

• Who reaps the political benefits of provocation?

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April 15 | Day 31: Testimony of Civil Guard TIP N29100C (second in command to Civil Guard head of legal police in Catalonia, Daniel Baena) and National Police officers 74.881, 88.428, 100.445, 89.141, 103.406, 92.552, 102.912, 106.424, 117.892, 115.789, 120.381, 103.852 and 86.496

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 31 summary

• Baena's second in command describes Jové, the Mossos, ANC and Òmnium as the architects of a rebellion

International Trial Watch assessment, Week 9

Other news

• Leading PP candidate tells Catalan public broadcaster it took part in "coup against democracy"

• PP 'Game of Thrones' video (subtitled in English)

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Week ending April 14

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April 14 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Interview with Sir Hugh Orde, former Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, on the events of September 20 and October 1, 2017, on the Catalan TV3 program FAQS (questions in Catalan, answers in English)

• Sinn Fein MEP Brian Carthy interviewed: "The EU leaders' silence makes them accomplices to the Catalonia situation"

• Puigdemont: Spanish response to Mexico’s letter on colonial issue was “atrocious"

• Interview with Catalan foreign minister Alfred Bosch: “Our priority is holding a referendum like in Scotland”

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Translations

April 28: For a Vote That’s Republican, Radically Democratic and Breaks With The System

Captura de pantalla 2019-03-19 a las 16.12.51.png

Manifesto of the Republican Front for the April 28 Spanish general election

As republican organisations intent on defending popular interests and deeply committed to the current struggle for the right of self-determination and against repression, Poble Lliure (Free People), Somos Alternativa (We Are Alternative) and Pirates de Catalunya (Pirates of Catalonia) have decided to create a ticket that will also allow us to carry this fight forward at the April 28 general election.

The three organisations consider that at the present time our duty is to struggle publicly and wherever we can against the situation of oppression and abuse that we all suffer. For the April 28 election a common front should be built that does not yield to any blackmail, but firmly and clearly undertakes not to support any organisation that refuses the commitment due to the right to self-determination and to social rights.

The ticket we are creating will take up the fight on the basis of the following pledges:

1. It will defend the democratic legitimacy of the struggle for independence and for the construction of the Catalan Republic, without being drawn into concessions or delays that aim to drag the Catalan people back into the cage of Spanish regional government and perpetuation of the 1978 regime.

2. A vote for this ticket will be a vote of confrontation with the Spanish monarchist regime and its pretence of maintaining despotic dominion over the Catalan nation.

3. A vote for this ticket will be one that will promote steadfast, public denunciation of the authoritarian nature of the Spanish state, which gags democracy everywhere. The core of its political action will be recognition of the right to self-determination, ending repression and defence of social rights and equality.

Consequently:

The ticket will be made up of people representative of the left that is committed to a break with the system and with the defence of popular interests, people of proven courage and moral integrity. They will be needed to guarantee unflagging denunciation of the current situation of occupation and repression and compliance with this political commitment irrespective of consequences.

This ticket comes into being with an explicit commitment not to vote for any Spanish or Catalan force that does not explicitly defend the Catalan people's right to self-determination, the freeing of the political prisoners and return of the exiles, the defense of social rights and the repeal of articles 155 and 135 of the Spanish Constitution¹.

As such, it is a useful and reliable alternative that will never be used to support any party opposed to the interests of our people.

Footnote

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April 13 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Neus Català, last Catalan survivor of Nazi camps, dies at 103

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April 12 | Court not sitting

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Other news

Judge won’t probe if head of Catalan referendum investigation was Tácito tweeter

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April 11 | Day 30: Testimony of Spanish National Police officers 82.910, 107.528, 85.186, anonymous, 114.274, 119.432, 92.783, 82.612, 111.486, 87.526, 91.126, 79.313, 87.576 and 81.829.

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For coverage of this testimony and other court proceedings in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 30 summary

• Pro-independence candidates to remain in jail during election campaign

Other news

• Catalan Parliament apologises for colonialism, calls on Spain to condemn it too

• Catalan pro-sovereignty majority calls for release of Julian Assange

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April 10 | Day 29: Testimony of Spanish National Police officers (88.009, 75.137, 120.522, 126.322, 126.744, 127.996, 88.279, 67.093 and 64.915), five municipal police officers from Badalona and Mossos d'Esquadra 16646 and 17854.

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 29 summary

• A Spanish National Police officer accuses voters of "simulating aggressions" on October 1 in Sabadell

• Mossos's espionage against National Police officers? Melero shakes up the story of the witnesses

Other news

• PP, PSOE and Citizens' pressure stops ANC petition on citizens' rights in the Spanish state being discussed in European parliament

• German MP on threat of further "draconian punishments" against Catalans

• International event criticising Catalan independence trial in Strasbourg

• Piedmont Regional Council condemns Catalan trial

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April 9 | Day 28: Testimony of various Civil Guards (TIP B98467N, J03473D, I57753N, V71878W, TIP W79506I, V17236L, K12407I, TIP X33145Q, U83881V) and Spanish National Police (19.196, 105.992, 128.022, 86.089, 70.385, 81.704, 96.031 and 125.866)

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 28 summary

• Guide to audiovisual evidence concerning October 1

• The videos of the Guardia Civil action on 1-O that were not viewed today in the Supreme Court

Other news

• Barcelona court prosecutes 30 high-ranking Catalan officials over 2017 referendum

• Nobel Peace Prize winner says Catalan trial is endangering human rights

• NOTE: Today former Catalan police chief Josep Lluís Trapero and other former Catalan senior officials presented their written defences to the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional)

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April 8 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Catalan political prisoners to be able to leave custody to formally take office if elected

• Report by two Scotland Yard officials says pro-independence protests were peaceful

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Week ending April 7

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April 7 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Grünberg: "In a German trial, this role for the far right would be unthinkable"

• Catalan trial witness threatened by anti-independence attack on his home

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April 6 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Catalan far-left party denounces infiltration attempt by Spanish police

• Bureaucracy tells Catalan prisoner Forn to report for election-day clerk duty

• Die Linke initiative: The Catalan case reaches the Bundestag

• Majorca Has Strong Links to Spain’s Monarchy. So Why Vote on Abolishing It?

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Analysis (Vilaweb)

No, Mr. Sánchez, Brexit is not like Catalan independence

The data on Brexit and Catalan independence show that the two movements have almost nothing in common

For the full analysis, go here

Brew's conclusion

The Spanish Government’s repeated attempts to draw parallels between Brexit and the Catalan independence movement do not stand up to basic scrutiny. The data show that supporters of the two movements share almost nothing in common. In regards to both demographic characteristics (education, age and wealth), as well as attitudes (on immigration, authoritarianism and welfare), Catalans in favor of independence resemble Brits opposed to Brexit, not those in favor of it.

Why, then, does the Spanish government continue to insist on the Brexit-Catalonia comparison? Perhaps it’s because the more obvious, and factually correct, comparison would be between Catalonia and Scotland. Unlike those who voted in favor of Brexit, those who voted in favor of Scottish independence were (i) younger, (ii) better educated, and (iii) less religious than those who voted against independence. Just like in Catalonia.

Perhaps the reason that the Spanish Government constantly compares Catalan independence with Brexit, instead of the more obvious comparison with Scotland, is that the comparison with Scotland provokes the inevitable question: why not settle the Catalonia-Spain issue like Scotland and the UK did? Why not allow, like the UK did for Scotland, a mutually agreed-upon, binding referendum, voted on by all Catalans?

The Spanish Government’s response so far to this obvious question has been muted or relied on a strange form of legalistic circular thinking (we don’t want a referendum because it’s illegal, and we won’t legalise it because we don’t want it). Though the anti-referendum arguments do well in Spanish electoral politics, they aren’t very effective outside of Spain. This, perhaps more than any other reason, is why Spain wants to keep the spotlight on the failures of a chaotic Brexit, rather than on the successes of the orderly Scottish independence referendum.

In his criticism of Brexit and Catalan independence, Pedro Sánchez said that ‘engaging in campaigns or political projects based on lies eventually leads societies down a blind alley’. If Mr. Sánchez truly seeks to engage with the truth, he should reflect on the data on Catalan independence, and put a stop to the frequent and factually misleading comparisons with Brexit. If there are legitimate reasons for denying Catalans the right of self-determination, a right which was granted to Scots, Mr. Sánchez should highlight those legitimate reasons, and explain why Catalonia is different from Scotland. But his current approach of campaigning against Catalan independence based on false information is not only politically irresponsible; it leads societies, as Mr. Sánchez himself has said, “down a blind alley”.

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April 5 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• Consult the results of the Catalan government's Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO) first report for 2019 here (in English)

Main results:

• Pro-independence Catalan MPs in the Spanish Congress would increase to between 19 and 22 (presently 17), out of a total of 48 Catalan seats.

• Pro-sovereignty Catalan MPs in the Spanish Congress would win between 26 and 32 seats (presently 29).

• The pro-independence majority in the Catalan parliament would at least remain at 70 (out of 135), and could increase to 75

• Support for independence continues to exceed opposition

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April 4 | Day 27: Testimony of Mossos d'Esquadra deputy commisioner Joan Carles Molinero and Civil Guard agents TIP R12810S, TIP V11483E, TIP Z66018U, TIP K62747Z, TIP T21380R, TIP T21380R, TIP I50070J, TIP B80404Y, TIP J85171K and TIP R67502P.

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Testimony of Joan Carles Molinero

For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 27 summary

• Molinero accuses De los Cobos and the Spanish law enforcement corps of failing to comply with the police operation on October

• Civil Guard officer admits he said: "I jabbed with my baton as if there was no tomorrow"

• What happened with the images recorded by the Policía Nacional and the Guardia Civil on October 1?

• Judge and defenses clash over displaying videos in court: Catalan trial, day 27

• Referendum voters ‘had a violent attitude,’ testify Spanish police officers

Other news

• Catalan Parliament to Torra: immediate election or confidence motion

• Catalan government condemns conquest of America and slave trade

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April 3 | Day 26: Testimony of Mossos d'Esquadra commisioner Ferran López and Civil Guard agents U30527P, TIP Z44192J, TIP L97409L, TIP B17279W, P24860N, TIP L30567B, TIP M39892T, TIP B11602Z, TIP N97976D, TIP N97976D and TIP Q45716Q.

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Testimony of Ferran López

For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 26 summary

• Puigdemont pledged to declare independence if referendum led to 'incidents', says ex-police chief

• A second Mossos boss challenges Civil Guard colonel's story in key trial testimony

• Salellas anticipates Marchena over the veto on the videos of the accusations

Other news

• Audio claims former Spanish minister, PM involved in political espionage case

• Catalan mayors talk in Madrid about police violence during referendum

• Catalan President accused of criminal disobedience for not removing yellow ribbons

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April 2 | Day 25: Testimony of Spanish National Police commissioner number 018564, Urban Guard of Badalona chief number TIP 1292, Civil Guard agents number J12485S, TIP T93818V, W55376V and TIP L01637A, and Mossos d'Esquadra officer 6243.

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For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 25 summary

• Jailed leader Jordi Cuixart 'undermined' police work, officer alleges

Other news

• Court to consider lawsuit against president Torra for disobedience

• Catalonia unites in cross-party commitment to responsible migration debate

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April 1 | Court not sitting

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International Trial Watch assessment 7

Screenshot_2019-04-05 01-04-2019-Assessments-of-1-0-Trial-Week-7 pdf.png

Other news

• Spain mobilises its ambassador after Catalan president visits Portugal

Interview

Business leader Durán-Puig: 'Independence is at a point of no-return'

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Week ending March 31

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March 21 | Day 20: Testimony of anonymous Civil Guard agents TIP H77877T, TIP G36994P, TIP H12669K, TIP S00885Q, TIP S17971T, G67504A, TIP N31011H, TIP G37772B, TIP U41506Z and TIP W86153J

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Testimony of Civil Guard agents

For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 20 summary

• A Guardia Civil officer states that the Catalan regional government asked for € 11,000 million from China

• A Guardia Civil agent compares September 20 in Bigues i Riells with the Basque conflict

• The rebellion according to the Civil Guard: spitting, carnations and faces of hate

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Comment: Vicenç Villatoro, Ara, March 21

The Civil Guard points the finger

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March 20 | Day 19: Testimony of anonymous Civil Guard agents TIP R77175H, TIP F98511S, TIP M81486Q, TIP R51133F, TIP E98218B, TIP S51761E, TIP B40743H, TIP C73251J and TIP M77964J

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Testimony of Civil Guard agents

• Catalan Trial: Day 19 summary

• A Guardia Civil agent affirms pondering whether the Catalan Police had to assume "military defense" competencies

• Right to defense undermined, say lawyers as tensions with judges heat up

• Quim Torra was 'in and out' of warehouse where ballot papers were seized, says Guardia Civil officer

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March 19 | Day 18: Testimony of Felipe Martínez and anonymous Civil Guard agents H11346M, TIP K47019K, TIP P35979V and TIP P96540Q

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Testimony of Felipe Martínez

For coverage of Martínez's testimony in English, go to: Montoro's second in-command admits that there is no evidence for misuse of public funds for the 1-O referendum

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Testimony of Civil Guard agents

For coverage of this testimony in English go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 18 summary

• First agent of the Guardia Civil declaring before the Supreme Court defines 20-S as "siege"

• Marina Roig states that the prosecution may have "worked on" the testimony of Guardia Civil officers

• 'Violent, aggressive, angry': Guardia Civil officer describes protests during police raids

• ANC's Sànchez 'wouldn't allow' police cars to reach ministry, officer claims

• Documents referencing 'war, guerrilla scenarios' found in finance ministry, says police officer

• Multiple defence protests as Civil Guard testify in Catalan trial

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March 18 | Court not sitting

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Week ending March 17

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March 17 | Court not sitting

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Translation

Speech from March 16 'Self-Determination is Not a Crime' demonstration in Madrid

Companys i companyes, companheiros and companheiras, lagunak, compañeros and compañeras ["men and women comrades", in Catalan, Galician, Basque and Castilian (Spanish)]

Congratulations for this demonstration--we have managed that "self-determination is not a crime" and that "democracy is to decide" are getting heard loud and clear in the very heart of the capital of the State! Thanks for the enormous effort of those of you who have come from Catalonia and other places with your respective flags, demonstrating the range of different identities that exists across the State and which the reactionary right tries to deny and obliterate in the name of a "one and indivisible Spain".

Those of us who live here have also been able to show that another Madrid exists, the Madrid of  "They Shall Not Pass"¹, the Madrid that stands with the people of Catalonia and with all the peoples of the State who want to decide their future. A Madrid very different from the one that turned out in Plaza de Colón² a few weeks ago and which only promises repression of the people of Catalonia and of all our peoples.

From this other Madrid we want to denounce the political show trial that is taking place in the Supreme Court--a trial that is aimed not only against the prisoners and exiles and not even against the more than two million people who took part in the October 1 referendum. It affects all of us who show political dissent against this regime: the regime of a monarchy that is not neutral but the very opposite, since it has become the staunchest defender of the territorial unity of the State against any threat to the regime.

Behind the accusations of "riot" or "human walls"³ that we have heard during the trial lies their goal of stopping us from exercising our rights to freedom of expression, assembly, demonstration and political participation when these are aimed at bringing this regime into question.

From this other Madrid we embrace the legitimacy of civil disobedience by making our own the words of Hannah Arendt: "In no case can civil disobedience be equated with criminal disobedience. There is all the difference in the world between the criminal’s avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedient’s taking the law into his own hands in open defiance."

And that is what you have done: disobey laws and unjust sentences. This is how history has advanced: by always winning new rights and through more, never less, democracy.

That is why we demand freedom for all the prisoners and exiles and why we will never give up forming new "human walls", capable of disobeying and continuing to challenge this regime so as to move towards the building of Republics where we can decide everything: not only the relationships amongst our peoples but also to assert popular sovereignty against the expropriation of civil, political and social rights being carried out by an increasingly reactionary neoliberalism.

Long live free Catalonia [said in Catalan]!! Long live solidarity among our peoples!

Footnotes

1. No pasarán--the slogan of the defenders of Madrid in the Spanish Civil War.

2. Refers to the February 10 Madrid demonstration for Spanish state unity, supported by the PP, Citizens and Vox.

3. Terms from the prosecution case for "rebellion" against the 12 Catalan social and political leaders presently on trial in the Supreme Court.

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Other news

• (El Nacional) Spanish PM's blunt reply after march for the right to decide: "Under me, independence won't happen"

• (El Nacional) PP's Catalan candidate shows "contempt for Catalonia", says party colleague

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March 16 | Court not sitting. Madrid demonstration "Self-determination is Not a Crime--Democracy is Deciding"

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See English-language coverage of this important affirmation of the right to decide of Catalonia and the other peoples of the Spanish state below

• (El Nacional) Madrid tastes the spirit of the massive Catalan protests that the trial is judging

• (El Nacional) L'Estaca sung at the end of the demonstration (full version)

• For detailed minute-by-minute coverage of the day go to the Foreign Friends of Catalonia Twitter page and/or their Telegram channel

• (El Nacional) "The first time in Madrid": world media report Catalan march in Spain's capital

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March 15 | Court not sitting

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Other news

• (El Nacional) Iceland stops Spanish ambassador from joining its bilateral meeting with Catalonia

• (El Nacional) Puigdemont expands lawsuit against Llarena in Belgian court to include Spanish state

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Comment: Gonzalo Boyé, El Nacional

Watch out, Europe is coming

Gozalo Boyé, defence counsel for the "group of madmen who crossed the Pyrenees" (Carles Puigdemont and his ex-ministers), analyses the humiliations awaiting the Spanish legal system

To Mariano Rajoy, in his day, this idea of "judicialising politics" - managing a political problem, such as that of Catalonia, through the courts - seemed a good one. Probably, he opted for the path knowing full well that, on the one hand, the public prosecutors could help him to "fine tune" his propositions, and on the other, that the political establishment could, to paraphrase a famous leaked message, control the key courts "via the back door." However, what never occurred to him was that the situation might get out control because a group of madmen would cross the Pyrenees and engage him in battle on a level playing field and with an impartial referee.

Thinking they had everything under control was not only an error but also reflected a very provincial vision of the true environment in which we move. The rules of the game are no longer, exclusively, those norms that they were usually able to manipulate to suit their interests, but rather, in the solution of legal problems - not political ones - other rules also come into play, and these, despite being there in plain sight for all to see and make use of, turn out to be unfamiliar and odious.

Throughout the last decades, Spain has paid little attention to the judicial environment that surrounds it and as a result, it is seriously difficult for many of those involved to understand how they will end up solving some of the key legal problems arising from this insanity of judicializing politics.

The first clash with European legal reality, in the current Catalonian conflict, was when Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena became nervous and, for the first time, withdrew the European arrest warrant that another judge, Carmen Lamela, now in the Supreme Court herself, had filed against Catalan president Puigdemont and his also-exiled ministers Ponsatí, Comín, Puig and Serret.

Having to face this reality head-on is becoming constant, as was demonstrated when the court in Schleswig-Holstein established that the events which the Spanish Supreme Court is now judging once again were not only not criminal, but also represented an exercise of rights and liberties that every democracy must tolerate if it wants to remain one.

It was also humbling - or a new wake-up call from legal reality - to discover that a Spanish judge could be sued in Belgium for his actions if they were contrary to EU norms, as happened when the current lawsuit against judge Llarena was presented before the Belgian courts. Thereupon all kinds of things were said in response, we were threatened in a range of ways and we were drenched in a shower of unfounded legal complaints, based only on patriotic ardor.

The new surprise, the next clash with reality, then took place when President Puigdemont announced his intention to stand for the European elections in May. The reactions have been the same as before: he can't do it, it won't work, he'll be stopped as soon as he sets foot on Spanish soil, he's nothing more than a madman, etcetera, and so the stories will continue until it's understood what's really happening.

President Puigdemont, and any of the other exiled politicians, can stand for the European elections in May because it's their right and because the rules that regulate the calling of elections are not the ones that some believe apply. Undoubtedly, Spain's Organic Law of General Electoral Regime is a basic norm to be taken into consideration, but the rules contained therein cannot be interpreted or applied separately from those which give origin to the right to vote, and to be voted for, to become part of the European Parliament.

Our legislation is no longer a set of territorially limited rules, but rather, part of a larger set that regulates a series of rights and freedoms that can neither be fine-tuned by the prosecutor nor controlled via the back door. This and nothing else is the basis of what has been done so far, and the many more actions that will be taken in the future: Spain plays in Europe and, therefore, local rules have to be interpreted in the light of European rules.

Independence trial judge Marchena may try to influence a defence witness's statement indicating what the penalties would be for not testifying in the way the prosecutor wants, but this act should be analysed not from the heart, but from the legal perspective established in the European Human Rights Convention. The same will apply with regard to the constant limitations placed on the right to a defence and, above all, in the criminalization of the right to protest, the freedoms of expression and assembly, and even the right to self-determination, which is certainly not a crime.

Llarena may or may not impose a third European Arrest Warrant, but such a warrant would have to be analysed from the perspective of the EU directive regulating this European cooperation instrument in relation to a series of other European agreements that Spain has signed and ratified and that, therefore, are part of the Spanish legal system.

If the judge opts for a third warrant, he will have accept its result and if he doesn't, he must also accept that his choice will then entail other legal consequences which he will not like. That is, whatever he does, he will be bound, not by what he believes is the right to be applied, but rather, by what really must be applied as a right.

Spain's Central Electoral Board may prohibit the display of yellow ribbons and Catalan estelada flags while it also allows a political party that is standing in the elections to promote itself via the courts, by mounting a private prosecution. It may do that, but it will have to assume the legal consequences that this will have in EU law.

Similarly, the Board's members may simultaneously judge the Catalan politicians in the morning and, in the afternoon, resolve the controversies that arise in the middle of the election campaign which they are tasked with regulating impartially. What they cannot avoid, though, is that this has consequences, and its implications are subject to the European Human Rights Convention.

They'll be able to continue saying that there is "state immunity" that prevents a Spanish judge from being judged outside Spain but, in the meantime, they'll have to continue defending that position in a Belgian court, and worse, they'll discover, sooner rather than later, that this controversy has already been resolved by the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

They'll try to arrest - they may even go through with arresting - an elected Member of the European Parliament, but they won't be able to argue that this is in accordance with the norms governing the immunity of all European parliamentarians and, even more importantly, they won't be able to avoid the consequences of their own actions.

They'll be able to say and do many things, but as long as they fail to assume that being a member of a certain club, such as the European Union, has its obligations, they won't understand that a political conflict cannot be resolved in court and that, if they try, they'll find that the rules of the game can't be fine-tuned by the prosecutor nor controlled via the back door.

Things are a little more complex and, no doubt, they'll gradually learn this, because here we are not improvising, and the decision to play the game on a level playing field and with an impartial referee has been, is and will be the best of decisions. Watch out, Europe is coming and I'm going to get some popcorn.

Translation: El Nacional

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March 14 | Day 17: Testimony of Teresa Prohias and Josep Lluís Trapero

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Testimony of Teresa Prohias

For coverage of Prohias's testimony, go to Catalan News in English: Public servant denies hiring printing firm for referendum ballots

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Testimony of Josep Lluís Trapero

For coverage in English of Trapero´s testimony go to:

Catalan Trial: Day 17 summary

(El Nacional) Police chief Trapero blows a hole in Spain's Supreme Court proceedings

(Catalan News) Catalan police 'ready' to arrest Puigdemont and ministers after declaration of independence (3/24)

(3/24) Trapero's statement in the Supreme Court in 10 sentences

(3/24) Trapero states that the court secretary could safely leave through the door of the Economy building

(El País) Ex-Catalan police chief was ready to arrest Puigdemont if ordered to do so

(Vilaweb) Catalan police chief defends in court operation to stop October 2017 referendum

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March 13 | Day 16: Testimony of Jaume Mestre and Alberto Royo

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Testimony of Jaume Mestre

For coverage of Mestre's testimony, go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 16 summary

• The prosecution asks that the person in charge of promotion of the Catalan government be charged with perjury

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Testimony of Alberto Royo

For coverage of Royo's testimony go to Catalan News in English: Former Diplocat head denies international observers hired for referendum

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March 12 | Day 15: Testimony of Rosa Maria Sans, Enric Vidal and Enrique Mari

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NOTE: From today on, this blog will link readers to Catalan public media's coverage of the trial for the detail of witness testimony. This will provide more time for the blog to carry more comment on the trial and on its political impact in the run-up to the April 28 Spanish general elections.

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For coverage of Day 15 (March 12) go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 15 summary

• The shortest and most confusing sitting in the Catalan independence trial: 2 witnesses in 20 minutes

• "That guy Toni" and the 1-O posters that were not billed, at the heart of the trial

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March 11 | Day 14: Defence cross-examination of Manel Castellví, testimony of Emili Quevedo, Albert Planas, Francisco Juan Fuentes, Manuel Santos and David Palanques (Catalan public media coverage in English here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 14 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 14 summary

Defence cross-examination of Manel Castellví

Castellví made these points in answer to defence counsel cross-examination:

• Forn introduced no changes in the leadership personnel or structure of the Mossos on becoming interior minister in July 2017.

• Neither the CNP nor the Civil Guard closed any potential polling station before October 1.

• At a September 28 meeting between the three police forces, all agreed that they didn't expect acts of violence on October 1.

• The sleep-ins  and other activities in schools and other centres on the night of September 30 had nothing to do with the Generalitat. Nothing was being conducted related to the referendum.

• The feared actions of "radical independentism" did not eventuate.

• The Mossos leadership did not set up any groups for action, which in hindsight was a mistake.

• The CDRs were overwhelmingly made up of people unknown to the police who wanted to guarantee the success of the referendum.

• The ANC and Òmnium have always called demonstrations under the banner of non-violence. "There have never been any incidents and we consider them our interlocutors because of their attitude and the results of their management."

• The government did not intervene to change any aspect of the Mossos's plan for October 1.

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Testimony of Emili Quevedo

Quevedo, who faces a charge of disobedience in another case and could refuse to answer any questions, says he will answer all put to him. Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General and the people's prosecution, Quevedo says that:

• The former head of the police department, Albert Batlle, did not feel comfortable with being relieved of this position but did not tell him, Quevedo, why.

• In an initial meeting between the Mossos command and the new minister Joaquim Forn, Forn made it clear that he understood the distinction between the political orientation of the Puigdemont government and the need for the police to comply with the law. However, he disagreed with a statement of Forn's that on October 1 the Mossos would behave as on a normal polling day: it seemed to him unrealistic.

• The Mossos had a coordinating committee that meet several times to assess "the climate of tension" that Catalonia was experiencing. There was a need to give "special protection to various persons and institutions".

• On September 20, the Mossos had various public order units ready outside the Department of Economy to guarantee that the court search party could leave (300 officers in total).

• Trapero charged Quevedo with producing a report on how many police officers would be needed to stop the referendum: the answer was between 30,000 and 40,000. "Leaving the streets empty we might have arrived at 12,000, but we still wouldn't have been able to close all the polling stations."

• On a normal election day, 3000 officers are assigned to security: on October 1 the number was 7000.

• Trapero told Puigdemont and Forn that the Mossos were concerned about the atmosphere of rising tension in the lead-up to October 1 and would abide by their legal obligations on the day. At a September 26 meeting Trapero asked Puigdemont to call off the referendum. The police chiefs expressed their disagreement with the government's "operational principles" for October 1 because they counterposed compliance with the court order to stop the referendum with maintaining public order.

• There was a lot of confusion about what the legal secretary of Court Number 13 wanted to do on September 20--leave the building by herself or with the whole search team.

• Once it was realised that it would be impossible to close down the voting centres the o bjective was to have as little police presence as possible--two or three officers per polling station.

• Trapero himself was responsible for increasing the number of police officers present on October 1, bringing into operation units that would normally never have been deployed in this work.

• Interior minister Forn did not change any of the Mossos's guidelines for action on October 1.

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Testimony of Albert Planas

In his testimony Planas made the following points:

• He received no instructions as to how to deliver the letters that contained advice to recipients that they would be required to staff voting tables on October 1.

• Until Unipost received a communication from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), the firm was unaware that the letters were for the referendum, only that they were "for the Generalitat".

• The day the Civil Guard raided the Unipost building there was a demonstration outside, but he had no trouble entering.

• The letters had not been sent because no official order had been received.

• When the Civil Guard entered the building and demanded that everyone hand over their mobile phones, he complied willingly.

• At no point did the Civil Guard explain that he was under investigation.

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Testimony of Francisco Juan Fuentes

In his testimony  Fuentes made the following points:

• At  the time of the Civil Guard search he did not know what was in the letters.

• For him they were ordinary mail because in the majority of cases there was no confirmation of delivery part.

• The letters produced comments among the workers, because  Unipose was in receivership: "There were comments in the press and people were wondering if we were going to have problems with a delivery for the Generalitat."

• The client told us to start the delivery as soon as possible, but since we didn't have an order we stopped it.

• His superior told him not to send the letters even if an order arrived but to advise him. In any case, the contact person with the Generalitat told them not to deliver the letters on morning of the Civil Guard raid.

• He didn't know whether an invoice had been sent: "That wasn't my job."

• "Unipost was in receivership and if a good client asked us for favour we did it."

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Testimony of Antonio Manuel Santos

In his testimony  Santos made the following points:

• He denied having spoken to the Generalitat about the delivery of the letters that contained advice to recipients that they would be required to staff voting tables on October 1.

• His superior had asked him to give priority treatment to Generalitat mail.

• The letters for distribution never finally arrived.

• On September 19 the Civil Guard raided the Barcelona premises of Unipost without a earch warrant.

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News (Ara, March 11)

Observers slam Marchena for cutting off defence questions about Spanish police violence

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Week ending March 10

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March 10 | Court not sitting

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March 9 | Court not sitting

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March 8 | Court not sitting

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Comment (Ara, Mònica Planas, March 6)

Lies of the Spanish government’s delegate during trial of the political prisoners

Lidia Heredia.jpg

Translation: Ara

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March 7 | Day 13: Testimony of Sebastian Trapote, Ángel Gozalo and Manel Castellví (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 13 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 13 summary

Testimony of Sebastian Trapote

Trapote's testimony largely repeated that of lead prosecution witnesses Pérez de los Cobos, José Antonio Nieto and Enric Millo (see below). Additional points made by Trapote that were not covered in their statements:

• The police lodged in hotels in Reus, Figueres and on the coast north of Barcelona (Maresme) were kept awake at night by the continuous noise of the demonstrators.

• The Prosecutor-General's Office in Barcelona ask that the CNP have special units available in case the Mossos defaulted in their duty to stop the referendum. The CNP consequently had a "large deployment" ready to act in case this happened on October 1.

• To stop voting on October 1, at least 50 officers per polling station would have been needed.

• The CNP didn't ask for back-up from municipal police because they had been told these didn't have enough resources.

• 65 CNP officers were hurt on the day

• There were occasional confrontations between Mossos and national police on the day.

• The CNP didn't seal off any voting centres because that job had been assigned by the judge to the Mossos.

• He didn't know how many injuries resulted from the action of the CNP.

• There was no possibility of mediation between the CNP and the people surrounding the voting centres because the police task was to requisition the election material and the resistance was "brutal".

• The PP hired buses to bring people to the hotels where the police were lodged to express their support.

• 50 cases of police violence on the day are before the courts but no-one has so far been found guilty.

• The "inaction" of the Mossos on the morning of October 1 consisted in letting people enter polling stations to vote and/or allowing them to be surrounded by crowds. "The Mossos carried out a plan focussed on guaranteeing collective security and for that reason it was impossible for them to make any intervention in the voting centres."

• No police officers were hospitalised as a result of the action of October 1.

• The CNP had done a study of the likely scenario on October 1 which stated that it was likely that there would be "very many problems".

• Police officers were authorised to take video footage on the day and that this is available for the court.

• On September 20 the CNP planned to conduct of the CUP headquaretrs because there was an "important amount" of election propaganda there. He did not know if it was oficial or the CUP's own propaganda.

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Testimony of Ángel Gozalo

Gozalo's testimony largely repeated that of lead prosecution witnesses Pérez de los Cobos, José Antonio Nieto and Enric Millo (see below). Additional points made by Gozalo that were not covered in their statements:

• The organisers of the referendum used an "eve of war" language to incite people to defend the polling stations.

• The Civil Guard noticed that at some polling stations there were no Mossos and that their equipment on the day was not "adequate",

• In Lleida, some Mossos's vehicles kept the Civil Guard under surveillance.

• The planning of which colleges to intervene in changed during the day because outside some of them there were so many people.

• During the period of searches by the Civil Guard after September 7, there were 131 "expressions of antipathy" towards the corps.

• The wives and children of Civil Guards suffered "repression" when they went to school or did the shopping.

• There were some polling stations where the Civil Guard was not met with resistance or hostility. In the majority of polling stations, children, the elderly and disabled people were not in the front of defence perimeters.

• "Not even as a joke" did the opertiuon have as a goal closing 1500 polling stations.

• Civil Guard action was set to start at 0800 hours on October 1, and "minutes beforehand" he advised the Mossos.

• On September 20, at the search of the Department of Economy, some Civil Guard vehicles were parked in parking stations, while the two that were trashed did contain heavy calibre weapòns.

• The gas used at Aiguaviva on October 1 was not tear gas, but an irritant spray designed to dissuade people from blocking the work of the forces of law and order.

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Testimony of Manel Castellvi

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General and the people's prosecution, Castellví says that:

• In July 2017, after the appointment of Joaquim Forn as Catalan interior minister, the Mossos produced "risk scenarios" related to September 11 [the Diada, Catalan National Day], October 1 and October 12 [National Day of Spain]. At this time they detected on the social networks the beginnings of what were to become the Referendum Defence Committees (CDR). The people involved "came from very heterogeneous backgrounds", including the ANC, Mortgage Victims Platform (PAH), as well as "classical" organisations like the CUP. As October 1 approached, the CDRs multiplied as more and more people got involved.

• On September 28 and 29, in execution of the September 27 court order of judge Armas, the Mossos carried out 4469 actions warning those in charge of locales designated as polling stations for October 1 that the referendum was illegal and they were not to assist its realisation.

• The Mossos could not close down these locales where social activities were being carried out because they were only authorised to stop activities related to the referendum.

• 7800 officers were deployed on October 1, beginning at 0600 hours. They managed to close 134 polling stations. 239 polling stations did not open. If the pair of Mossos assigned to a polling stations could not close it, they were to inform their regional command and if this could not provide back-up, they had to inform Mossos's central command.

• The riot squad could not be deployed for this work because demonstrations had been planned for the day in Barcelona, including one demonstration outside a Spanish government building.

• The report on the likely character of October 1 with which the Mossos were operating was one of mass, non-violent peaceful resistance. Nonetheless, an escalation to a scenario of violent resistance was not ruled out.

• He had left a September 28 meeting with government ministers in a state of "frustration" because they insisted that despite these risks the referendum was going ahead on the basis of the popular mandate received. He had stressed in the meeting that the Mossos would carry out the September 27 court order.

• After the events of September 20, the Mossos heads were increasingly concerned that "radical independentism" would take over the CDRs and that this could lead to scenes of conflict. "Radical independentism" included the revolutionary independentist youth organisation Arran, the Student Union of the Catalan Lands (SEPC) and the Workers' Union Coordinating Committee (COS). After he explained this to Pérez de los Cobos, the Prosecutor-General's Office asked for an 800-strong increase in the Mossos's deployment.

• The Mossos's leaders anticipated that the majority of the polling stations would be open and/or occupied and, if the pair of officers assigned each station could not secure its closure mediation was to be used. If this did not work, force was to be used as a last resort, with the Mossos requesting back-up from the CNP and the Civil Guard.

• However, at around 0900 hours, they saw on TV the first of the interventions of the CNP and Civil Guard units. "That surprised us a bit because what the Mossos command had always conveyed was that the procedure would be that the Mossos would have to ask for help from the CNP and Civil Guard forces."

• All of the police forces made planning mistakes: "I believe we all got it wrong. The presence of the CNP, Civil Guard and Mossos was inadequate."

• Children were not used "as human shields", even though there were children in the polling stations.

NOTE: The cross examination of Castellví by defence counsel begins on Monday, March 11

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March 6 | Day 12: Cross-examination of Pérez de los Cobos continues, testimony of Monteserrat del Toro, Alberto Fraile, Sergi Travé, Pedro Buil Armengol, Vicent Nos Ripollès, Quim Franquesa, Teresa Guix, Olga Solanas, Ferran Burriel, Núria Llorach and Xevi Xirgo (Catalan public media coverage in English here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 12 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 12 summary

Cross-examination of Pérez de los Cobos by Andreu Van den Eynde, defence counsel for Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva

You had no direct experience of what happened around the electoral colleges on October 1, but were told by others? I wasn't present in any locale.

Did you have any information via Civil Guard channels of what the Civil Guard unit doing the searches for Barcelona court number 13 [ordering searches that might incriminate the independence movement] was finding? I was aware of the interventions they were doing, but no more than any other member of the public.

Did you take into account as coordinator of the police intervention the number of people who were likely to vote? Whether one million or fifteen million were voting wasn't important, so long as their attitude was not that of obstructing the law.

Do you agree that compliance with the law should take precedence over maintaining social harmony? No, my position is that social harmony is impossible without respect for the law.

[Van den Eynde has the court hear Pérez de los Cobos saying in yesterday's testimony that "complying with the law takes precedence over social harmony" and after discussion presiding judge Marchena rules that Pérez de los Cobos need not explain the apparent contraduction between his two statements.]

Cross-examination of Pérez de los Cobos by Jordi Pina, defence counsel for Jordi Sànchez, Josep Rull and Jordi Turull

What criteria were used to assign CNP and Civil Guard forces to different regions? The old demarcations that existed before the creation of the Mossos.

What criteria were used to decide where units would intervene? This was decided by regional leaders of units, knowledgeable about the situation in their region.

What explains that inventions took place in some cities (e.g. Sabadell, L'Hospitalet), but not in larger cities (e.g. Badalona, Terrassa)? I don't know.

Did you know that there were interventions outside two private colleges where the police units did not enter to look for referendum material, but to block the entrance [one where former Catalan President Artur Mas was to vote]? No

Who informed you, either in writing or verbally, that there were hooded persons in centres? The report I received from the CNP. Did it specify the locales and include photographic evidence? No.

You said there were no police charges on October 1. Explain what you mean by police charge. A police charge is an decisive action to dissolve a demonstration or to evacuate a location. I believe that on that day no demonstration was dissolved and no evacuation carried out.

Would 15-20 police with shields and helmets and batons in the air trying to shift a group of people constitute a police charge?

[Presiding judge Larena disallows the question, saying that the witness has made his position clear. A clash ensues between Marchena and Pina as to whether Marchena is protecting witness Pérez de los Cobos from relevant questions. Marchena rules Pina's questioning out of order.]

Did police officers beat citizens who were seated with their arms in the air on their extremities? There were dozens of interventions and in some of these individuals who were trying to prevent the access or exit of the units who were carrying out the orders of the lawful authorities were affected. I did not get detailed descriptions in the reports I received.

Did you know that pepper spray was used against citizens in the centre of Aiguaviva? I am unaware of that.

Did you agree with Mr Trapero's criterion about not using force if it endangered the vulnerable (made at the September 28 Security Committee meeting]? I agree that any action should always aim to avoid that, but not that it become converted into the ultimate goal of an intervention.

Were you aware that any of those present around the electoral colleges were carrying arms or sticks or went with material with which to confront the State's security forces? No.

Other questions from defence counsel

The interventions of the CNP and Civil Guard were aimed not at closing the polling stations but at confiscating material? Yes.

Did the Mossos supply you with the information as to who was in charge of the various voting centres? I believe so, on September 30.

Was this information conveyed to the heads of the regional units? I imagine so.

Are you aware that on October 1 it was raining in Catalonia, and that "hooded" could refer to people wearing hooded rainjackets [and not balaclavas]? Yes.

Did the you fulfil the court order successfully? Yes, in so much that October 1 was not a referendum.

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Testimony of Montserrat del Toro

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, del Toro says that:

• On September 20, accompanied by a legal search team and uniformed Civil Guard security, she executed a search warrant in four offices in the Catalan Department of Economy in central Barcelona on behalf of the judge of Court Number 13 of Barcelona. The homes of the occupants of these offices, including Josep Maria Jové, secretary of the department, were searched at the same time. This was one of 40 searches conducted on the day.

• From 1000 an uninterrupted murmur from the people outside the building could be heard, along with cries of "They shall not pass" and "We will vote".

• At 1330 hours, the occupants of the offices, who had been detained at home, still could not reach the building because of the big crowd outside.

• At 1600 hours, the search team had completed its search of the second of the four offices, but had not eaten. It was told by Civil Guard security that they couldn't send out for pizza because "they would know it was for us". The Civil Guard could not leave the building.

• The private secretaries of Jové said that material that was not in his private office could not be taken by the search team under the terms of the court order from the judge of Court Number 13. It was not included in the requisitioned material.

• At 1630 hours, a Civil Guard appeared with a package containing 5 or 6 bread rolls, bought by a Mossa [Catalan policewoman] "who had taken pity on us".

• Those who had been detained at home never arrived, because of the mass of people around the building.

• Del Toro: "I heard the voice of Carme Forcadell (that's what they told me) and the shouts of 'Not a Step Back' and 'We Will Vote'."

• At 1700 hours, a huge shout was heard, because Junqueras (the Vice-President and the minister for Finance) had arrived. He expressed no interest in meeting me.

• The last search began a little after 1900 hours, and all was finished at 2040 hours.

• She went onto the roof of the building around 2115, and took photos of the crowd below to incorporate in her report. From the roof she could see that her request for a helicopter was impossible to fulfil and that a "sea of people was waiting for the search team to leave".

• Afterwards she went down to the lobby, where she could see people entering and leaving the building, making use of a blue pass. Later she saw an avalanche of people pressing against the glass of the main entrance. She was afraid.

• [ANC president] Jordi Sànchez had said that they couldn't do anything to shift the mass of people that was pressing against the door. After that she returned to where the rest of the team was waiting with the requisitioned material. The others told her that they had received instructions to resist and that their chiefs had no plans to remove them from the building.

• From 1600 hours she had lost contact with the outside because the mobile networks in the area had collapsed.

• She was offered three options for leaving building by the Civil Guard lieutenant who was her intermediary. The first was for her to leave alone via the front door guarded by two Mossos d'Esquadra. She never contemplated that. Firstly because the whole legal search team had to leave as it has entered, secondly because it wasn't a safe option, given what she had seen and photographed. The second offer was that a passage of civilians would be formed and she could leave, She didn't know whether that would be with or without a police guard. This was rejected for the same reasons, also because she couldn't run the risk of losing the requisitioned material. The third offer was that the passage would be formed by agents of the riot squad. This was also rejected for the same reasons.

• She managed to ring the judge of Court Number 13 [Ramírez Sunyer] from a different location where there was mobile coverage and told him that he had to "get me out of here". He rang Trapero and gave him half an hour to get her out of there. At 2330, two plain clothes Mossos informed her that there was a terrace via which she could leave the building, via the next door theatre. This she did, passing over a low wall between the terrace of the ministry building and that of the theatre and entering the changing rooms of the theatre, then leaving the theatre by the front door and entering a car of the Mossos after midnight. The manager of the theatre was reluctant for her to leave via the theatre and had to be persuaded by the Mossos.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Toro says that:

• She called for a helicopter because she saw that she couldn't leave via the front door.

Cross-examination of del Toro by Marina Roig, defence counsel for Jordi Cuixart:

You searched in an office that was not specified in the warrant issue by judge Ramírez Sunyer. How did that happen? I rang the judge and he said to search all areas related to the election processes and that that was covered by the warrant.

Did you know that legal counsel for the Department rang Ramírez Sunyer to question whether a computer not in an area covered by the search warrant could be an object of the search and that the judge accepted that it could not? I didn´t.

At what time of the day were you informed that the passage had been created to allow people to enter and leave the building? In the morning.

Did anyone explain to you that a stage had been set up to allow speeches and musical acts during the day? No, we heard shouts in the morning and then the sounds of tumult in the afternoon.

Did anyone communicate to you that at 2230 Sànchez and Cuixart indicated to the police that they would be moving to call off the demonstration at midnight? No, because at that point I was talking to the judge.

Did you hear them call off the demonstration from the top of the Civil Guard  vehicles? No, I didn't hear that.

Other cross-examination of del Toro:

Did the search warrant mention specify that the charges being investigated were rebellion and sedition? Yes.

Were you aware that people entered and left the building all day long? I was focussed on my work.

Are you a follower of [names various right-wing and unionist web sites]? Disallowed by the presiding judge.

Did you make a comment on your Facebook account about the Republican Left of Catalonia, to the effect that they are "destroyers" [in English in original]? There were incidents of vandalism in the town where I live, but I don't remember that they were connected to the Republican Left.

Do you remember on which floor of the building you were when you thought you heard the voice of Mrs Forcadell? No.

Why did you not say in the preliminary inquiry that you had heard the voice of Mrs Forcadell? Why didn't I relate everything that had happened? Because I had been under tremendous stress and I held out for three to four days in my workplace  afterwards trying to organise the requisitioned material for the investigating judge and the following Monday my health gave way. And a month later? A month later the National High Court rang me and I was able to give evidence by teleconference...And you remember much more detail now, a year and a half later than at the time? The year, five months and 16 days that has passed since then have allowed me to relive every day what happened and fix it in the memory for this day. How do you explain that with the thousands of people there no-one heard Mrs Forcadell speak? I didn´t say that I heard Mrs Forcadell speak: I heard a voice that, by association of ideas, a police officer identified it, and from the tone of voice and mood it might have been her, but I obviously didn't see her.

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Alberto Fraile, manager of Hotel Gaudí in the town of Reus, gives evidence that around 100 national police stayed in the hotel during the period of the referendum, that there were demonstrations outside the hotel demanding "Police Out", but that he came under no pressure to remove the police and that they left when their booking ended.

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March 5 | Day 11: Testimony of Enric Millo, Neus Munté, Juan Antonio Puigserver and Diego Pérez de los Cobos (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 11 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 11 summary

Testimony of Enric Millo

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Millo says that:

(Regarding the period up to October 1)

• Puigdemont told him "in a very clear fashion" that his intention was to find a "solution" that would not imply a clash with the Spanish state, but events have proven that to be false. Puigdemont was not interested in talking about anything that wasn't "getting the go-ahead to have an independence referendum in Catalonia. I told him that wouldn't be possible. It was outside the framework of the law."

• Millo told Puigdemont that he was setting out a suicidal proposal with the referendum, that it would fracture society and provoke irreversible damage to Catalonia. "I told Puigdemont that so long as he didn't call a referendum we could try to do everything possible to find a way out on the basis of issues of general interest. He said: 'I can't turn back. I'll call the referendum and we'll keep talking.'"

• Junqueras had a private meeting with Millo at which he said  that he had "always been an supporter of independence and I don't have to prove that, but others in the government have never been and now they have to prove it." Junqueras had said he would prefer not to move in a hurry but was bound by what the government did.

• Interior minister Joaquim Forn had told Millo that he wanted to see a positive relation between the Mossos and the Spanish police forces. He said that the referendum would take place and "we'll guarantee that referendum day will unfold in absolute normality."

• The Catalan government had called on mayors for their support and in response he had sent them a letter as Spanish government representative, saying that it was necessary to block the referendum.

• The laws of disconnection [adopted on September 6 and 7] liquidated the Statute and the Constitution at a stroke and aspired to create the fiction of a dual legality in Catalonia. It was Kafkaesque.

• There were acts of violence and intimidation in Catalonia from September 10,  2017 up until article 155 was applied. "I ended up counting between 100 and 150 different acts" [including] "throwing objects, including incendiary objects" and "the intimidation of police officers and court search teams. [...] Painting up 'Millo, dead' isn't very peaceful."

• [The CDRs] apparently work in a spontaneous and autonomous manner, but a detailed study of their functioning supports the conclusion that they have a structure and organisation. [...] It can't be denied that some CDRs are violent."

• "The government said that events like those of September 20 were festive, folkloric. But that wasn't the case. The activity of the court search team was viewed as an attack."

• There was no activity by the Mossos to stop the referendum before October 1."

• "The injunction of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) made it clear than the illegal referendum could not be celebrated and ordered preventing the use of centres until October 1. If a centre was still open on October 1, it was to be entered, election material seized and the centre evacuated and closed."

• "The Catalan government and the Mossos did not agree with the presence of Spanish police forces in Catalonia and wanted them to leave. We made it clear that we disagreed."

• "I'm not certain that the Mossos closed any polling station before October 1. I believe they didn't."

• On activities in schools and other centres on the night before October 1: "It was a campaign of a festive character, apparently innocent and spontaneous and, by coincidence, across the whole of Catalonia." The objective was to keep the schools open for the referendum.

• On the September 28 Security Committee meeting [between representatives of the Catalan and Spanish interior ministries]: "It was grotesque. The Catalan government said there would be a referendum of self-determination on October 1 and let's see how we can coordinate to see it takes place in total normality."

• "There was a 'political alignment' between the Catalan government and the approach and guidelines for action of [Mossos] head Trapero. [...] Trapero said that his obligation was to implement the court order, but he didn't tell us how. But he did say that in no case would he use force to stop the referendum."

• "Not a day passed without a feeling of disquiet and concern in Catalan society about what was happening [with] dozens of actions and rallies, and incidents of harrassment, of siege. [...] The climate of tension raised the prospect of a risk to the physical safety of persons if the instructions to the police were not followed. "

(Regarding October 1)

• "On October 1 I asked for citizen collaboration in allowing the police do their job. [...] There were persons who didn't want to take part in the voting but simply to block the action of the court police."

• "At 1200 hours we could already see that this was a referendum."

• "Puigdemont was tremendously irresponsible when he applauded the behaviour of the persons who were defending the ballot boxes and the polling stations."

• "On October 1 there were walls of people, masses of people, disposed to confront and clash with the court police, sometimes violently."

• There were many people, deceived by the Catalan government, who thought that this was a "normal" voting day.

• "It's obvious that the Mossos did not fulfil the court injunction to stop the referendum."

• The responsability for the violence of October 1 lay with the Catalan government.

• Millo supports the theory of the fake images of October 1: "There's an image of a boy with a bloodied head, and it's from a charge by the Mossos in 2012."

• "When the riot police go into action, the images are never agreeable, not on October 1 nor in any other place in the world."

• The police experienced a very serious situation, being attacked by people using martial arts. Other evidence of anti-police violence were a bullet-proof vest torn from side to side ("A finger nail couldn't do that"), an attack by a "quad", fractured fingers and the use of the "Fairy trap"--putting detergent at the entrance to  voting stations so that the police would slip and fall and be able to be kicked. He saw evidence of demonstrator violence on social networks that was not broadcast on television.

• "I apologised to the people who had gone in good faith to the polling stations on October 1 and found themselves in a totally unpleasant situation, but the person whom they should have been asking to apologise was the president of the Catalan government. "

(After October 1)

• "On October 3 there were more than 80 roads and railway lines cut in Catalonia. There was a clear intention to collapse the territory and violent situations were produced."

• "Nobody in Catalonia throught the Unilateral Declaration of Independence was symbolic. Neither the situation, nor the context nor the proclamations suggested that this was a joke. It was on in earnest."

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Millo says that:

• "A relation can be made out between the pro-sovereignty organisations [ANC and Òmnium] and the activities called by the CDRs."

• "I don't have information as to whether the Mossos prevented the use of public spaces for the referendum. If they did I'm not aware of it."

• The point of October 3 was to show ability to control the territory of Catalonia.

Cross-examination of Millo by Xavier Melero, defence counsel for Joaquim Forn, former Catalan interior minister:

Does he know the exact number of wounded on October 1? Not formally.

Does he know why some polling stations did not open on October 1? No.

Did the Mossos fail to carry out any part of the instruction made to them by the Prosecutor-General's Office on September 25 (to notify those responsible for centres designated as polling stations that they could not be used for that purpose), given that the ruling of TSJC judge Mercedes Armas of September 27 ruled against stopping after-hours activities in schools? The instruction to prevent the centres from being used as polling stations was not carried out even though the heads of the Mossos d'Esquadra said they were going to comply with this instruction: the ruling of TSJC judge Armas provided the Mossos with an excuse for not complying.

Is he aware that police and Civil Guards are under investigation by the Provincial High Court of Barcelona (Audiencia Provincial) for excessive use of force on October 1? The police and Civil Guard acted in an exemplary fashion and to date no officer has been found guilty of any charge.

Did he consider the police operation on October 1 a success, even though the percentage of polling stations closed was very low (around 5% of the total)? Each operation should have been brief, but there were walls of people hindering the action of the police which meant the time to complete the task was much more than planned. But the intervention was effective.

At how many polling stations did force have to be used? Millo says about 30, twice the figure of around 15 given in an interview with NacioDigital in August 2018 which he admits was incorrect.

Was the number of police and Civil Guard sufficient to stop the referendum? Yes, if there had not been human walls blocking the entrances to the polling stations.

How many police officers would have been needed to close down the 2350 voting centres? It was not my job to do that analysis.

Was the instruction of the Secretary of State for Security, for the Spanish police forces to withdraw if confronted with large numbers of people and hence the risk of injuries, carried out? Yes.

Did either the National Police or the Civil Guard denounce to the Prosecutor-General's Office that the activities in the schools in the days before the referendum were fraudulent? No.

Did the ruling of TSJC judge Mercedes Armas of September 27, preventing the closure of schools and other centres marked down as polling stations before October 1, make the work of stopping the referendum more difficult? Yes, but it wouldn't have stopped the implementation of the instruction to prevent the referendum.

How many arrests were made on September 20, in a climate of "violence" and "riot"? None, but as to why the Mossos, in charge of security, would have to answer.

Were the minutes of the September 28 meeting of the Security Committee accurate? Everything that the minutes record took place, but things happened that the minutes don't register (including Trapero's alleged statement that he would not use force to carry out the court injunction to stop October 1 if children and elderly people were present in the polling stations).

Did you know that on October 27 [day of the DUI] Trapero got in contact with the TSJC and the Prosecutor-General's Office of Catalonia, placing himself at their disposition? I'm not aware of that.

After the DUI of October 27, did the supposed heads of this new state communicate the fact of its independence to you? No.

Cross-examination of Millo by Andreu Van den Eynde, defence counsel for Oriol Junqueras and Raül Romeva

Did you meet with citizens who had been wounded on October 1? No, only four were taken to hospital.

Did you talk to mayors before October 1? I got concerned calls from mayors, saying that they were being pressured to make municipal premises available for the illegal referendum.

How many dead and injured were there on September 20. None, that I'm aware of.

Do you remember an interview in which you compared the democratic majority who came out on September 20, contrasting them to a violent minority (responsible for trashing the Civil Guard vehicles)? Yes, but the one feature (people peacefully using their right to demonstrate) does not exclude the other (illegal violence).

Other questions from defence counsel

Given the climate of violence and intimidation you describe, did you ask the Spanish government to declare a state of emergency? No. The presence of the htree police forces was sufficient to control the situation.

Did you consider asking Mr Rajoy to declare a "situation of concern" under the National Security Law? No

Did you ask the Constitutional Court to suspend from their positions in government those who were not complying with its orders? No.

Is there any written report covering the period September 10 to October 1 about the violence you have said took place? No.

How come that the CDRs called for people to demonstrate on September 20 when they didn't yet exist? Well it would have been the work of the associations [ANC and Òmnium] that were later to have a relation with the CDRs.

Who told you that there were violent people in the CDRs? I can't give you a concrete name: over the period many people in positions of command told me this.

Do you have any evidence of people with weapons being present in the polling stations on October 1? No, but I repeat that the wounds I saw on various police could not have been inflicted by bare hands alone.

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Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Munté says that:

• She resigned as a minister of the Puigdemont government on July 14, 2017, for reasons of work overload and depression following on the death of her father.

• She had no political differences with the government, which was pressing for a negotiated referendum, a position she continues to support.

• She had received five orders from the Constitutional Court, and the thought that she might incur the kind of unjust punishment suffered by former president Artur Mass and three of his ministers for allowing the November 9, 2014 "participatory process" also weighed on her mind. She was also affected by the July 4 resignation of business minister Jordi Baiget.

• She does not recall various meetings noted in the diary of Josep Maria Jové, requisitioned by the Civil Guard on September 20, 2017 in one of its raids on various government and private buildings. She was not in any meeting in 2016 in which whom the Mossos might obey in case of a conflict with the State was discussed. As Catalan government spokesperson she always replied to media questioning that the Mossos had to carry out their legal functions.

• The concern of the government at the time was winning support from a majority of the parliament for its budget.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Munté says that:

• There was no discussion in government meetings of this time about having a unilateral referendum.

• Carme Forcadell attended only one meeting, dedicated to the question of the government winning a vote of confidence.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the people's prosecutor (Vox), Munté says that:

• She took part in the September 20 demonstration outside the Department of Economy.

• She voted without problem in the October 1 referendum.

Replying to questions from defence counsel, Munté says that:

• The only referendum at which the government was working when she stepped down was a negotiated one.

• She did not contemplate that the Rajoy government would apply article 155 (Rajoy himself had said it was not under consideration).

• She was present at the June 19, 2017 meeting between Puigdemont and Urkullu at which the Basque premier was asked to help mediate in the conflict with the Rajoy government.

• The protest of September 20 was peaceful.

• Neither Sànchez or Cuixart ever deviated from an approach of peaceful, non-violent protest.

• Joaquim Forn did not belong to a more radical political current than his predecessor Jordi Jané.

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Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Puigserver says that:

• The only point on the agenda of the September 28 meeting of the Security Committee of Catalonia, called by Puigdemont, was the coordination of police forces on October 1.

• Colonel Pérez de los Cobos, appointed by the Rajoy government to coordinate the operation of the three police forces, said that the principle of maintaining social harmony could not be an excuse for not carrying out the key instruction in the court order, namely to stop the referendum from taking place by confiscating all referendum-related material.

• Josep Lluís Trapero, head of the Mossos, said that the court order had to be implemented, but preserving social harmony, with a resort to violence only in the case of a threat to the forces of security themselves or to citizens.

• Pérez de los Cobos insisted on the need for a proportionate use of force if this was needed to implement the court order.

• Trapero replied that force would not be used if children or the elderly would be put at risk by.

• Enric Millo, Spanish government representative in Catalonia, and Pérez de los Cobos called on the Catalan government to call off the referendum. The response of the Catalan representatives was to neither agree nor disagree.

• We didn't ask how the Mossos would behave on October 1.

• Minister Forn said that the Civil Guard and Spanish National Police would have to act at the request of the Mossos.

• No clarification of the role of the Mossos on October 1 took place at the meeting.

• 12,000 Mossos were deployed on December 21 (day of the Catalan elections called by the Spanish government), with the support of local council police. On October 1, about 8000 Mossos were deployed.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Puigserver says that:

• The court order of September 27 prohibited the use of public buildings and facilities for any activity related to the referendum.

Replying to questions from defence counsel, Puigserver says that:

• At no time during the September 28 meeting of the Security Committee did the Catalan representatives say that they would not comply with the court order, but it became clear that they were prepared to put the maintenance of social harmony above the action needed to stop the referendum.

• Interior minister Forn intervened to support the position of Trapero on the use of force.

• After Puigserver assumed control of the Catalan interior ministry under article 155 [and after the destitution of Trapero and the Pere Soler, head of the police department], the behaviour of the heads of the Mossos was "professional and loyal".

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Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Pérez de los Cobos says that:

(Regarding the period up to October 1)

• At a September 21 meeting in the office of  José María Romero de Tejada, the Prosecutor-General for Catalonia, Romero de Tejada indicated to representatives of the National Police Corps (CNP) Guard and Mossos d'Esquadra that he had appointed Pérez de los Cobos coordinator of the combined police effort to stop the referendum, Trapero indicated his disagreement and asked for the appointment in writing. Romero de Tejada then issued an order (4/2017) which specified that, while he was in charge of the action to stop the referendum, Pérez de los Cobos would coordinate the three police forces involved.

• At a September 23 meeting of the same representatives, Romero de Tejada indicated his disagreement with Trapero's plan for October 1, saying that it seemed more a plan for a normal election day than one directed at stopping the illegal referendum. Pérez de los Cobos agreed. Trapero said that he didn't accept that Pérez de los Cobos had authority over the conduct of the Mossos but agreed to present an amended plan of action for October 1. Pérez de los Cobos also referred to a September 22 letter from Catalan interior minister Forn to his Spanish counterpart Zoido saying that the presence of Spanish forces in Catalonia for October 1 would not be necessary.

• On September 23, at a media conference Forn stated that the Spanish state, with the appointment of Pérez de los Cobos, was "trying to implement article 155 via the back door".

• "The relationship with Mr Trapero was always difficult." He did not come to a September 25 meeting convened by Pérez de los Cobos, sending his number two Ferran López in this place.

• On September 25, the Prosecutor-General for Catalonia issued an order (5/2017) instructing the Mossos to warn those responsible for locales designated as voting centres that they would incur a series of penal sanctions if they allowed them to be used for the execution of the referendum.

• On September 26, the Prosecutor-General for Catalonia issued a further order (6/2017), stipulating that locales designated as polling stations were to be sealed off with a 100-metre no-go area.

• On September 27, Trapero again called on the Prosecutor-General to revoke the appointment of Pérez de los Cobos.  Trapero also said that it would be very difficult to seal off so many polling stations.

• He, Pérez de los Cobos, had been worried "for a long time" as to whether the Mossos would comply with orders issued by Spanish state institutions in the case of a unilateral referendum being staged in Catalonia.

• The previous head of the Catalan police department, Albert Batlle, had resigned on July 17 because Forn as new interior minister had indicated that the Mossos would guarantee that October 1 took place in all normality.

• The initial disposition of forces for stopping the referendum (discussed at a meeting on September 25) entrusted the closure of polling stations to the Mossos with the Civil Guard and CNP in a back-up role. Trapero objected that it would be impossible to close many polling stations, also because there was no list of polling stations  available from the Catalan government. The state police forces provided Trapero with this list.

• On September 27,  judge Mercedes Armas of the Higher Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) issued a court order which, according to Pérez de los Cobos, did not overrule the previous orders of the Prosecutor-General, but supplanted him as the authority directing the operation to stop the referendum. It also distinguished between actions that could be carried out in the run-up to October 1 and on the day, allowing schools and other centres to be accessed as normal for after-hours activities.

• The September 28 meeting of the Security Board of Catalonia was "Kafkiana".  Pérez de los Cobos: "My first surprise was to see Mr Trapero there, because he isn't part of the Security Committee." Puigdemont, basing himself on the court order of Armas, insisted that the action of police on the day could not interrupt normal social harmony, preservation of which which was the highest priority. Pérez de los Cobos intervened to say that the basic goal was stopping the referendum and what could be discussed were the best means for achieving it.

• "Trapero made interventions that were along the same line as those who had convened this illegal referendum. [...] I said that if the Mossos acted in the way that these interventions seemed to indicate, if the goal of maintaining normal social harmony was going to become an excuse for inaction in implementing the legal order, well, in the light of that we would have to fulfil the obligation to act."

• He told Puigdemont that the easiest way to preserve social harmony and abide by the court order was to call off the referendum.

• The official minutes of the September 28 meeting were an accurate reflection of its content.

• The TSJC order of September 27 said that the centres designated for voting could not be used for preparing the referendum, but it didn't say that the centres couldn't be closed.

• The results of the visits of the Mossos d'Esquadra to locales denominated as voting centres, done under order 6/2017 of the Prosecutor-General's Office of Catalonia, was the opposite of that intended by the order. "What was communicated on the part of the teams of Mossos was that the celebration of the referendum is prohibited in this place and that the place would have to be evacuated by 6am on the morning of October 1 and that they would return at that time to achieve that result. Those responsible for the building would have to act so that a mass of citizens that might make the job of closure difficult not accumulate, given that in that case they [the Mossos] would have to act according to the criteria of mediation and restraint and that in no case would they make use of force." This was communicated to the pro-independence social organisations, who then acted accordingly, to the point of placing vulnerabe people in the front line of the polling centres. This was in line with what Trapero had told the September 28 Security Committee meeting would preclude the use of force.

(Regarding October 1)

• Planning of the state security forces in regard to October 1 entertained two hypotheses: Scenario A, where the Mossos would act to stop the referendum and the state security forces would act in support, and Scenario B, where, if the lack of sufficient numbers, inadequacy of operation or ineffectiveness of the Mossos were confirmed, we would act on our own initiative. Scenario B was confirmed early in the morning of October 1 and he suspended four coordination meetings with the Mossos.

• Mossos number two Ferran López sent an email early on October 1, asking for back-up at 233 polling stations, but this reinforced the perception of the Spanish security forces coordinating team that any coordination had effectively finished because action at many of the centres listed would be very complicated. The request was late and the list "excessively voluminous". After he  saw that there were only two Mossos per polling station and that none had been closed and that their presence was purely institutional it was decided to act independently of the Mossos.

• The "second big surprise of the day [after the "inaction" of the Mossos] was the "degree of hostility" with which the Civil Guard and PNE units were met outside the polling stations "even though the action of our forces tried to be the most scrupulous and proportionate."

• "There were perfectly organised groups within these human walls, with a hierarchy between themselves. [...] There were people wearing hoods and people warning of our impending arrival."

• "On not a few occasions, given the high degree of hostility and aggressiveness, our units decided to abort the operation to avoid greater harm."

• In no case was the action of the police units directed against voters, the elderly, children or disabled people.

• There were no police charges but "an exquisite application of proportionality".

• No order was ever issued to cease the operation.

• Because of the rising hostility towards the police units during the day, the time taken to complete the operation of confiscating voting material grew progressively longer, reaching over an hour in some cases. Also, the number of voting centres where the chance of successful intervention was real declined during the day.

• The procedure of the Mossos for calling for back-up in the case of being unable to confiscate the voting material, which was outlined in a September 29 circular to units, was "so long and confusing that our impression a posteriori was that it was designed so as not to comply with the court order".

• I heard afterwards that the regional command centres of the Mossos informed local units of the location of units of the State security forces. [...] The chiefs of the Civil Guard and the CNP informed that they had received reports of their units being surveyed by Mossos in camouflaged cars, including surveillance of the buildings where they were lodged. That these were vehicles of the Mossos was confirmed by number plate check. These activites showed that the system of intelligence set in motion by the Mossos d'Esquadra was directed more at allowing than preventing the illegal referendum. The patrols of the Mossos reached the point of directly informing polling stations of the approach of Spanish security forces.

• We heard of instances where, in the presence of the pair of Mossos assigned to close a polling station, stations were closed to allow those present to have lunch, with the Mossos taking no action.

• The Mossos sent us a report claiming to have closed 99 polling stations on the day, but 80% of these were very small, with only one or two tables, while the total vote registered in some, as reported by the Generalitat, was twice or three times the list of registered voters. In some cases the Mossos may have waited until everyone had voted before closing the cenre. Someone, maybe everybody, was lying.

• In 10 or 11 cases the Mossos present tried to physically hinder the operation of our forces, producing delicate situations, which could only encourage those who were trying to prevent our execution of a court order.

• In no case was I aware of Mossos confiscating election material. In some cases Mossos supported the ballot boxes while people were voting.

• The report that Mr Trapero sent me on October 10 for incorporation in an overall report on October 1 solicited by judge Mercedes Armas differed considerably from the report he sent her directly.

• The 6000 police officers sent to Catalonia would have been sufficient to largely block the referendum, had they had the support of the Mossos.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Pérez de los Cobos says that:

• From the Spanish Ministry for the Interior's Secretariat for Security he started following the Catalan situation from early 2017, with a view to the need for legal intervention.

• Aggression and hostility towards the Spanish security forces started after the first searches by the Civil Guard (September 9), intensified with the searches of September 20 and extended to homes of PNE officers and to Civil Guard barracks.

• The 6000 officers sent to Catalonia after September 8 were composed of PNE and Civil Guard riot squad reservists.

• Our suspicion that the Mossos would not act to stop the referendum was growing before September 28 (meeting of the Security Committee), intensified after that and was finally confirmed early on October 1.

• Mercedes Armas, with whom Pérez de los Cobos spoke on October 1, at no time said that the actions being carried out by the Spanish forces of security violated her September 27 court order.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the people's prosecution (Vox), Pérez de los Cobos says that:

• He had no knowledge of any communication between the Mossos and those occupying the polling centres before October 1.

• The reports of the CNP, Civil Guard and Mossos did not coincide on the number and type of incidents that took place on October 1.

• The number of injuries on the side of the Spanish security forces was around 90.

• Some individuals who warned those occupying polling stations that Spanish security forces were about to arrive were later identified as Mossos.

• On October 1, there was a convergence of agreed action between the Catalan government, the Mossos and the organisations who were mobilising people to defend, occupy and staff the voting centres.

Cross-examination of Pérez de los Cobos by Xavier Melero, defence counsel for Joaquim Forn, former Catalan interior minister:

Did the attitude of Mr Trapero in the series of meetings that began on September 21 only concern the supposed invasion of the competencies of the Mossos? In my opinion, it indicated disagreement over whether the court orders aimed at stopping the referendum should be implemented.

The presence of Mossos number two Ferran López in coordination meetings after September 25 [and not Trapero] was enough to maintain coordination among the three police forces? Yes, he was very interested in maintaining coordination.

Were the four provincial Monitoring Units [in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and Barcelona] that were set up between the three forces maintained throughout the whole period leading up to October 1 maintained  (despite Pérez de los Cobos calling off the four meetings of the overall coordinating committee set for October 1)? Yes.

The plan for October 1 presented by the Mossos contained detailed numbers, but those for the CNP and Civil Guard were just generic, isn't that so? Not exactly. The two Spate police forces were composed of reserve units that had to be incorporated and organised, so it took more time to develop detailed plans of action.

Did you or the Prosecutor-General make any suggestion to Trapero as to how the Mossos' plan of action for October 1 could be improved? I didn't and he wouldn't have accepted it if I had.

Did the Mossos fail to carry out the instructions contained in Order 5/2017 of the Prosecutor-General (warning of the consequence of centres being used for an illegal referendum)? [Did not answer, but discussed order 6/2017, ordering no-go areas around schools etc.]

Was any figure produced for how many police officers would be needed to implement Order 6/2017? The order was directed at the Mossos d'Esquadra--they would have to answer. We did various studies of officer needs based on two key variables--the degree of compliance of the Mossos with orders and the degree of aggressiveness of those defending voting centres. This gave a wide range of numbers needed.

Were you aware that the September 27 court order of the TSJC suspended the orders of the Prosecutor-General? No, it did not.  It ended the actions of the Prosecutor-General. "Nowhere does it say that the orders of the Prosecutor-General are no longer in force."

Did Joaquim Forn have any role in the nomination of Mr Trapero? I don't know.

Could the places designated for voting have been closed under the court order of the TSJC? Looked at in isolation, the activities in the schools etc on the night before the referendum had nothing to do with the referendum, but in perspective they were aimed at making the referendum possible.

Did the CNP and the Civil Guard try to close down any centres in the days before the referendum? No, firstly because it was the Mossos who had been ordered by the Prosecutor-General in Orders 5/2017 and 6/2017 to warn the directors of centres of the consequences of facilitating the referendum. Secondly, because we were aware of the need not to give rise to even more tension than that which already existed. Also because, if we had in the last analysis to act in substitution of the Mossos it would be better not to have increased tension even further beforehand.

Did reports from the CNP and the Civil Guard point to any deficiency in the work of the Mossos in the days preceding the referendum? No.

On the afternoon of September 30 you had a meeting with [Mossos] Commissioner Ferran López and at 2300 you said your farewells [without Pérez de los Cobos communicating any final loss of confidence in the Mossos]. At what time in the morning of October 1 did this final loss of confidence [which led Pérez de los Cobos to call off four scheduled coordinating meetings with the Mossos] take place? What was the triggering factor? The triggering factor were the reports that there were only two Mossos to every voting centre, that they were doing nothing and that the illegal referendum was taking pace in absolute normality, to the point that the plan that Mr Trapero had promised to amend probably hadn't been amended at all. This was confirmed when the report on October 1 that was sent to me by the Mossos contained an annex with the plan followed on the day. It was exactly the same, including the original date.

When did you get confirmation that this unamended guidelines were being followed?  Officially, on October 9 ... Nobody alerted you beforehand? On September 30, there were odd messages on the social networks referring to a possible attitude of the Mossos.

How could you coordinate anything if you didn't have those guidelines?   I've already said, the work of coordination didn't imply any ability to issue any order or instruction.

Didn't you think to get them via a request to the Prosecutor-General or the TSJC? No, and if I had I'm sure they wouldn't have given them to me.

But Commissioner Ferran López said publicy that he gave you the guidelines on September 29. Isn't that true?  No.

How many voting centres were closed down by the action of the CNP and the Civil Guard? Directly, as a result of their action, 113, and a couple of hundred including those that closed when they saw the possibility of intervention by the forces of security.

Of these 113, in how many did force have to be used? The great majority, around 100.

And the figure of the delegate of the [Spanish] Government, around 30, you don't recognise that? No.

Does the low number of arrests on the day, given the context of violence, not surprise you? In a situation where the level of aggression is much higher than anticipated, it is usual for there to be a low number of arrests, also because practicing arrests in this sort of situation increases tension.

[Cross-examination continues on March 6--see above]

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March 4 | Day 10: Testimony of José Antonio Nieto, Roger Torrent, José Maria Espejo-Saavedra, David Pérez, Antoni Bayona and Xavier Muro (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

 

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For an English-language summary of Day 10 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 10 summary

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Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Nieto says that:

(Regarding the period up to October)

• He made the decision to send 6000 extra police and Civil Guard agents to Catalonia to help stop the October 1 referendum.

• Interior minister Zoido was informed of the organisation of the intervention.

• The court injuction covering the referendum made it clear that its celebration had to be avoided.

• "The Catalan government's perception of reality was very different from ours: after we saw how police vehicles had been attacked and the police search party prevented for leaving [the Catalan Department of Economy, on September 20] we became particularly concerned."

• "During the day [September 20] I was told that the Civil Guard had asked for support from the Mossos d'Esquadra but had received contradictory replies. The support wasn't arriving, it wasn't being provided and things got increasingly heated. [...] The Mossos [were] critical of the operation because they weren't informed. The Civil Guard said, logically, that they couldn't be informed."

• "Every time the Civil Guard carried out an operation, there were incidents."

• "The CDRs [Committees for the Defence of the Referendum] had a solid structure protected by other organisations. [...] They carried out a very important job of coordination."

• "Initially, they [the CDRs] had an organisational function, but in my opinion they drifted more and more towards a violent outlook or to one that favoured violence."

• "ANC and Òmnium were there in all the demonstrations."

• The designation by the Spanish interior ministry of a coordinator [Pérez de los Cobos] generated disagreement with the Mossos about which Trapero presented a formal complaint. "The leadership of the Mossos was very reluctant to form part of the coordination of the operation to stop the referendum" [...] "Trapero took part in the first meetings with an uncollaborative attitude" and after September 24 "didn't take part but sent other commissioners."

• "Agreements between the [Catalan] Ministry for the Interior and the State Secretariat for Security came to an end.. There was a period of time when  meetings did not take place."

• "There was no reason for us to receive the court injunction [of Barcelona judge Mercedes Armas]. We had an order. It was necessary to ensure compliance with the law."

• "We were at a negotiating table [at the meeting of the Spain-Catalonia Security Board on September 28] talking about the police presence needed on October 1 with those who had called it. It was complicated. We were told nothing to do with what the operational plan was, but lots of excuses justifying doing nothing." [...] They told us there were people who would understand that the law was what Parliament had approved and not the later decisions of the Constitutional Court or the Prosectuor-General's Office."

• "We defended the need to comply by the law. And we had the sensation that from the Generalitat they they didn't want to do that."

• All of us representatives of the Spanish government insisted that October 1 be called off. If it was a question of demonstrating the strength of the independence movement, let them do that  and it wouldn't have been stopped, but what we could not accept was carrying out an action that had been expressly prohibited."

• "There wasn't the slightest gesture of concession or of openness to a real dialogue. Part of such a concession would have been to accept a simulation of the referendum in places not covered by the injunction of the magistrate. This was communicated, but there was no sign of interest and we saw that there was absolute commitment to supporting and celebrating October 1."

• "I said to Mr Trapero: 'Imagine that the Mossos were surrounded by a crowd, would you see the use of force as necessary?' He replied that if there were old people and children present, no. We saw then that this would be the excuse."

• "After the Security Board meeting, confidence in the performance of the Mossos was at a low. But we were still expecting compliance from the leadership of the force: that it would never turn its back on a court order .[...] We understood that Trapero was totally in line with the government of the Generalitat, but we hoping for something different from other members of the command."

• "I am unsure as to whether the Mossos closed any electoral college or recovered any election material before October 1."

(Regarding police and Civil Guard action on the day of October 1)

• "The primary objective that had to be fulfilled was avoiding the celebration of October 1. The second point was to do it by deploying the resources needed and adequate force, while guaranteeing the rights of the citizens and social harmony.

• "If we had prioritised operational effectiveness over every other objective, the professionals who were carrying out the task had the resources and legal coverage to achieve the goal, but at the cost of a greater use of force. That's why the maintenace of security was prioritised over effectiveness. [...] It was set out that the use of force would be the minimum necessary. And it was the minimum necessary."

• The action on the day was overseen by a coordination unit established in the Spanish government building in Barcelona, headed by Nieto and Spanish government representative Enric Millo.

• "At 0730 we confirmed that all units were in place and we analysed the behaviour of the Mossos. Up until that time we were unsure if any closure of a polling station had taken place. From 1100 hours we advised that the operation would continue, but we also advised that we would act alone, without the Mossos. We had seen Mossos in pairs but not the Riot Squad." [...] The [new] instruction was based on the assessemnt that the Mossos were "insufficient, ineffective or inoperative". [...] All three conditions materialised."

• "We received a request for support on the part of the Mossos in more than 200 polling stations, in many of which we were able to act. It surprised us that there were no representatives of the Mossos there and we gathered that if they had been asking for help it was because there were not enough of them."

• "There were people concentrated at the doors of the polling stations who, besides going to vote, had as a goal stopping the police and the Civil Guard from being able to do their job, which was to enter, identify the members of the voting tables and withdraw material of an electoral character."

• "There were attacks on police officers and the Civil Guard."

• "There was no police charge that could be technically described as such. What there was was use of force and in some places in an attention-grabbing way, but only so as to carry out an orderly withdrawal of the officers."

• [On injuries on the day] "We received information that four persons had required specific attention: one had suffered a heart attack, another had suffered the impact of a rubber bullet and two more with fractures to extremities. We did not receive detailed information from the Generalitat."

• The Spanish police forces closed between 103 and 114 polling stations.

• The police actions finished at between 1700 and 1800 hours. There were no orders to stop police action earlier.

• "There was a greater level of resistance that we had anticipated by the people who were in the polling stations. Would that it had been peaceful resistance. What we suffered was very intense, reaching situations of violence."

• "Given the mandate that we established  between 100% effectiveness and proportionality in the use of force, those responsible for operations understood that it was better to withdraw, either because the safety of the officers or the physical integrity of the persons who were trying to stop the closure [of the polling station] was at risk."

(Regarding the general strike and civil protest of October 3)

• "On October 3, there were notable acts of violence in various parts of Catalonia." The action of the Mossos was to let "allow the demonstrators to achieve their objective". The Mossos were responsible for the "collapse of Catalonia" on that day.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Nieto says that:

• The decision to send riot squads and not ordinary police to Catalonia was because they anticipated a clash with part of the population.

• "The Catalan government was telling us that [trying to stop the referendum] could affect social harmony, but on the other hand that the Mossos had the capacity to implement the court order. Following the logic of the argument was complex."

• "We never found out how many officers the Mossos d'Esquadra contributed. There was a coordination meeting with Trapero at which he presented a draft of which both the chief prosecutor of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia and Colonel Pérez de los Cobos said the contribution was clearly insufficient. He disagreed, but undertook to rework the draft. That was never presented. But what happened on October 1 was very like what was in the draft."

Replying to the questions of the people's prosecutor, Vox, Nieto says that:

• There was no precise moment when the Spanish police forces ceased their collaboration with the Mossos.

• "The behaviour of the police and Civil Guard was in line with court instructions."

• "If the Mossos had publicly indicated that they would comply with court instructions, the referendum would have been called off."

• A shipments of arms ordered from Germany by the Mossos was "high compared to what is usual" and was only completed once the quantity had been reduced.

Cross-examination of Nieto by Xavier Melero, defence counsel for Joaquim Forn, former Catalan interior minister:

Melero, shows final plan for deployment of Mossos on October 1, and points out that here was an increase in officers after the prosecutor asked Trapero to reformulate the plan. Nieto says he has not seen the document but "it's certain" that the coordinator of the police operation knew there was an increase in forces available.

Did anyone in the September 28 Security Boad meeting make a formal objection to Trapero's plan and offer any technical recommendation? I don't know.

Would 90,000 police have been needed to stop the referendum [as Nieto told VozPopuli on October 1, 2018]? "The question was whether any sort of image related to a referendum could have been avoided, not if a referendum could have been avoided. With 6000 police it was managed that what happened on October 1 was not a referendum."

On the greater number of polling stations closed by the Mossos compared to the Spanish police forces: "Would that the performance of the Mossos, without any sort of effort, had succeeded in closing that number of polling stations. If that was the case, why didn't they continue closing the rest?"

Melero shows the court injunction covering police operations on October 1, pointing out that it does not order the sealing off of grounds around schools and other polling stations. Nieto: "You're right."

Why did the Spanish police forces attend only 12 of the 112 requests for support that they received from the Mossos? "The interventions were being carried out in extraordinary circumstances. The requests that could be met were met."

Why were there no arrests at the September 20 demonstration that you describe as "riotous"? "Because there would have been a problem of responsibility, because responsibility for public order belongs to the Mossos. We would also have definitely had a problem of secuity for the demonstartors and the police officers. The non-presence of the Mossos had permitted a sensation that there were no limits, which led to the complete destruction of the Civil Guard vehicles."

Cross-examination of Nieto by Andreu Van den Eynde, defence counsel for Raül Romeva and Oriol Junqueras:

Why did the minutes of the September 28 Security  Board meeting not mention the risk of violence? Nieto says that if he had written the minutes, they would have.

Why didn't the Spanish police forces observe the court injunction to preserve social harmony on October 1? "Social harmony was put above effectiveness."

How many voted on October 1, despite the operation to prevent the referendum? "I don't believe two million voted on October 1. No-one can verify that, which was the objective. It didn't worry me whether two million, a million or three million went to vote [...] It was all the same if the job [of interrupting the voting] was done well."

Cross-examination of Nieto by Jordi Pina, defence counsel for Jordi Sànchez, Josep Rull and Jordi Turull

What knowledge did Nieto have of the circumstances surrounding the refusal of a berth in the port town of Palamós to the ship carrying the Civil Guards and police [see evidence of Joseph Rull here]? He denies having had direct knowledge.

Was there any investigation as to why large-calibre weapons were left in the Civil Gaurd vehicles on September 20? Nieto is not certain.

Was any police agent hospitalised, treated by ambulance staff or given leave from work after October 1, even though Nieto claims some suffered "serious bruising"? None.

Was there any order on the part of any legal or other authority to stop the police charges in the afternoon of October 1? None.

Nieto defends the presence of police surrounding the CUP headquarters on September 20 as backed by a court order.

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Replying to the questions of the counsel for the people's prosecution (Vox), Torrent says that:

• The fact that the majority of the accused are MPs in the Catalan parliament implies a "serious distortion in the work of the chamber".

• A speaker "can never limit or censure the proposals of the parliamentary groups.

• The reason why the opinions of parliamentary legal counsel are not binding on the speakership panel goes to the nature of the panel--"it is a political organ, not a organ of censureship".

• "We shall never abandon the will of the majority of the people of Catalonia, to decide our own future. We voted on October 1 and we shall vote again."

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Torrent says that:

• If the President of the Generalitat asks to appear before parliament, this cannot be denied by the Speakership panel.

• An act was held on October 10 [date of declaration and suspension of independence] but not in the chamber.

Replying to the questions of the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Torrent says that:

• The law of transitionality had as its objective the search for a political solution to the conflict and opening a process of negotiation and dialogue with the state, but it never had legal effect.

• "Thousands of people should be sitting in the dock today, because thousands of us took part in the events that are today being judged."

Presiding judge Marchena rules defence counsel Andreu Van den Ende out of order because he is formulating questions to Torrent that "do not meet the test of relevance" in asking about the sentiments Torrent felt on October 1.

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Espejo-Saavedra makes the following points:

• "My warning when the budget bill was adopted, including an outlay for the referendum, was listened to but no heed was paid to it."

• "The plenary of September 6 already had an agenda, but a bill was introduced onto the agenda in an irregulry way, in my opinion. [...] The independence forces wanted to approve all the legislation that would issue in the holding of the referendum."

• "The procedure of adoption in a single reading was appealed to the Constitutional Court and suspended. That's why the change in the agenda [on September 6] was introduced in a way that was a bit surprising."

• "No-one criticises the single reading process, only the objective for which it was to be used."

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Pérez makes the following points:

• "We are obliged to remove from the order of business all proposals that contradict constitutional legality."

• Pérez says he asked for the legal opinion of the parliament's counsel on five occasions and this was refused by the majority of the speakership board.

• "On the day of the referendum law we asked for a report from the Council of Statutory Guarantees [Catalan advisory legal body charged with ensuring that legislation conforms to the Spanish Constitution and the Catalan Statute of Autonomy] and the majority of the speakership panel thought it was unnecessary."

• "We voted against Puigdemont's appearing before parliament [on October 10] because it was obvious he was going to explain the results of the referendum."

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Antoni Bayona, former chief counsel of the Catalan parliament, makes the following points:

• When the Constitutional Court began to issue writs of execution the parliament's legal service began to advise the speakership panel to freeze proposals subject to the writs;

• On September 6,the legal service advised the speakership panel of the possible legal penalties its members could incur.

• Reports from the legal services are solicited by the speaker, but in the present case he submitted a report unsolicited because of the exceptional situation.

• The admission of a bill for discussion by parliament in no way determines its content.

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Xavier Muro, general secretary of the Catalan parliament [Clerk of the House], makes the following points:

• He advised the speakership panel of the penalties they might incur if they allowed the referendum and transitionality bills to come before the chamber.

• He admits that in 2011 the panel allowed a proposal to declare Catalonia independent to be discussed in parliament without incurring any Constitutional Court sanction.

• He explains that after the application of article 155, speaker Carme Forcadell continued her work as per normal.

• He explains that when Puigdemont came before the parliament on October 10, no resolution was adopted.

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Week ending March 3

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March 3 | Court not sitting

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See the comments, subtitled in English, of Barcelona FC defender Gerard Piqué after Saturday's Barcelona-Madrid match, here.

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March 2 | Court not sitting

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Comment: Javier Pérez Royo (Ara)

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March 1 | Court not sitting

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Comment: Vincenç Villatoro (Ara)

Òmnium or the ‘why’ of the Catalan independence movement

Òmnium was born to defend Catalan language and culture

In reference to Jordi Cuixart’s (1) courageous words during the trial against the Catalan pro-independence leaders, an acquaintance of mine told me that “Òmnium started off defending cultural Catalanism and now finds itself defending political independence. It’s ironic that it was more moderate during the Franco era than in a democracy”. The comment is a form of reproach to the leaders of Òmnium who —in his opinion— would have hijacked the grassroots organization politically.

My answer is that there is neither paradox nor hijacking. Òmnium has always stood in the same place. It was born to defend Catalan language and culture and, therefore, the necessary self-government for its vitality and for the welfare of Catalans. In the midst of Franco's dictatorship, many people thought that the necessary self-government would be achieved when the dictatorship fell and a different Spain arrived. But over the years, and after disappointments and setbacks, most Òmnium members have come to the conclusion that this level of indispensable self-government is neither there nor will it be because the different Spain where it would be possible is not the Spain that a majority of Spaniards want. Òmnium stands up for the same ideas as always: Catalan language and culture. But many of its members now believe that this cannot be achieved without independence. It is not that Cuixart has hijacked the members of Òmnium. On the contrary, he embodies what they think and what they want very well.

Translator's note:

(1) Jordi Cuixart has been the president of Òmnium Cultural since 2015. The grassroots group was founded in 1961, during Franco's dictatorship, with the aim of promoting Catalan language and culture. It currently has 143,000 members, as many as FC Barcelona.

Translation: Ara

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February 28 | Day 9: Witness testimony of Iñigo Urkullu, Gabriel Rufián, Albano Dante Fachin, Ernest Benach, Ada Colau, Juan Ignacio Zoido and Xavier Domènech (Catalan public media coverage in English here, here and here)

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News

• The court imposes a €2500 fine on Antonio Baños and Eulalia Reguant for refusing to answer the questions of Vox. If they continue to refuse they face up to a year's jail

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For an English-language summary of Day 9 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 9 summary

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Testimony of Iñigo Urkullu

Urkullu outlines attempts at mediating between the Catalan and Spanish governments in 2017 [his detailed recall of these contrasts with Rajoy's "I can't remember--I met with so many people"]:

• On June 19, he has a four-hour meeting with Puigdemont, who explains the situation of "deadlock" and asks Urkullu to help bring about a negotiated agreement between the two governments.

• On July 19, he has a meeting with Rajoy, arranged through deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria. It lasts for two hours and is devoted exclusively to the Catalan issue. From then on he maintains constant contact with the two governments and "various figures from the social, political, institutional, cultural, economic and business sphere", with a view to avoiding a collision between an application of article 155 and a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).

• On September 21, the day after the Civil Guard search of the Catalan Department of Economy and the 40-60,000 strong protest against it, Urkullu rings Rajoy. "I told him that things couldn't go on the way they were evolving and made the comment that everything was going to pieces and that the next steps had to be measured very carefully so as not to produce a fracture in Catalan society. He replied to me saying that he would, as much as possible, stick to a necessary minimum and take the greatest possible care."

• Between October 4 and 27, Urkullu has a lot of telephone communication with both sides of the conflict, to the point of suggesting four or five points for avoiding a showdown. Among these was the formation of a negotiating table made up of three members of each ministry with the goal of finding a solution that would avoid a UDI and an article 155 intervention. Urkullu comments: "I found Puigdemont absolutely receptive", but on October 26 Puigdemont tells him that he cannot dissolve parliament and call elections because of the pressure of the mass movement and of a part of his own party (JxSí).  Rajoy's attitude was "one of listening, attentive and of giving replies", but even though he found Rajoy reluctant to apply article 155, the Spanish president gave no guarantee that he would not apply it if Puigdemont called early elections in Catalonia.

Answering defence counsel, Urkullu adds:

• That after September 20, in a situation of "tension", he rang Rajoy because he felt his was "not a pro-active attitude with a view to rescuing the situation".

• That he had advanced the examples of Quebec and Scotland as the way forward, beginning with his June 19 conversation with Puigdemont, and that Puigdemont's suspension of the UDI on October 10 reflected agreement with this position.

Answering the popular prosecution Vox, Urkullu says that while there was public discussion about applying article 116 (state of emergency) and not article 155, Rajoy never raised this option with him.

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Rufián states that he will reply to the questins of Vox on the request of defence lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde, but that it seems to him a "disgrace that a racist and fascist party" should be present in the court.

Rufián gives testimonay as to the nature of the September 20 events outside the Department of Economy:

• He asked as a public representative to be able to enter the building, but the Civil Guard refused him entrance.

• "There were no episodes of violence on September 20".

• It was a falsehood that the court search team left the building via the roof, departing via the building next door. "This is a piece of fake news [in English in original] like the one about Castilian [Spanish] being persecuted in Catalonia."

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Testimony of  Albano Dante Fachin

Fachin gives evidence as to the nature of the September 20 protest:

• "It was not a demonstration in favour of independence but of democracy".

• He was near the entrance to the building, and people entered and left it normally. "The only concern I noticed in the Civil Guard agents present was with my cigarette smoke".

• "There were many journalists standing on the Civil Guard cars, so it was logical that they suffered damage."

On other points:

• The Podemos membership in Catalonia had voted 61% in favour of urging participation in the October 1 referendum.

• In the September 6 and 7 parliamentary session the parliamentary groups were able to present amendments, and his group (Catalonia Indeed We Can--CSQEP) presented an amendment to the entire resolution being proposed.

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Ernest Benach's evidence concerns the functioning of the Catalan parliament:

• "The speakership panel has no power whatsoever to initiate legislation."

• A single parliament group can initiate legislation.

• The opinion of parliament's legal counsel are not binding.

• The speakership panel has to guarantee the rights of the MPs.

• The plenary of parliament can by vote change the order of business.

• "If I had been in that situation I would have done as the speaker [Carme Forcadell] did."

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Colau: "I'm prepared to respond to all questions out of respect for the court and the right to defence, but I want to make clear my deep discomfort at having to respond to an extreme right group that threatens basic rights."

On September 20:

• "The situation was very worrying and there was a feeling of state of emergency [...] a sensation of social alarm". The National Police tried to enter the headquarters of the CUP without a search warrant."

• "We institutional, union and social representatives made a call for peaceful protest because we thought our institutions were in danger."

• "The behaviour of the people was peaceful and showed a sense of civic responsibility."

• "On September 20 there wasn't only little damage to property, but less than at comparable demonstrations." [Barcelona Council has provided a detailed statement of damages on the day, amounting to €5300 for 80 protective barrier partitions.]

On October 1:

• "I took part in the October 1 referendum in my double capacity as mayoress and citizen."

• "Many of us were amazed by the sort of mobilisation we saw on October 1, because it wasn't the work of any institution or political party. It was millions of self-organised people."

• "If the accused are here for October 1, so should millions of other people."

• "We understood that the referendum had been suspended, but not our political rights."

• "I rang [central government representative Enric Milló] and asked him to put an end to the police charges."

• "Jordi Cuixart is a person very much loved in Barcelona. It breaks my heart to see him and the other prisoners here."

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Former Spanish interior minister Zoido responds to the questions of Xavier Melero, defence counsel for former Catalan interior minister  Joaquim Forn:

• The response of the Spanish National Police and the Civil Guard on October 1 was "proportionate".

• The 6000 extra police sent to Catalonia were "to help the Mossos d'Esquadra whenever they needed it and as court police".

• The Spanish forces of order complied with the court order covering October 1 of "preserving peaceful social harmony".

• The Secretary of State for Security, José Antonio Nieto, communicated to him on the morning of October 1 that the Mossos had not carried out their assigned functions on the previous day;

• "He [Nieto] told me that,  in the face of an illegal referendum in which the Catalan government was calling people to participate, the number of Mossos assigned to duty on the day was entirely inadequate. [...] "What would have happened if this illegal referendum hadn't been called, built up and facilitated? If, instead of the 7000, there had been 12,000 Mossos, as for normal election day operations? Wouldn't it have been completely different?"

• Zoido admits that he knew instructions for October 1 had changed when the magistrate of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia [Mercedes Armas] issued new provisions supplanting those issued by Prosecutor-General's Office of Catalonia, but he wasn't aware of "all the details". [Armas's instructions prevented the police and Civil Guard from sealing off voting centres in the days before the referendum.]

• Zoido is unaware of who issued specific instructions to police on the day, saying operational matters were in the hands of Diego Pérez de los Cobos, appointed to coordinate operations among the various forces of order. "I neither elaborate nor assess security operations."

• He was unaware that there were heavy weapons inside the Civil Guard vehicles on September 20.

• "If I said that Civil Guard agents had to hide inside a building because people were attacking it, I must have been aware of it: I saw images or someone showed me a Civil Guard report."

Zoido responds to the questions of counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office:

• "We [he and Forn] had an institutional relationship that I believe was good": they did not, however, discuss the October 1 referendum.

• "Starting from September 6 and 7, we began to consider that we would have to take decisions from the point of view of the law."

• On September 20, 41 searches were conducted and the court police had a lot of trouble getting the job done.

• "I was told that the Mossos would abide by lawful instructions and would look to stop the October 1 referendum."

• "The court order were not obeyed: after all the organisation that had taken place and the authentic human shields that there were, the places couldn't be closed."

• On the chief of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero: "He wasn't at all collaborative; he didn't like being coordinated by Mr Pérez de los Cobos; he kept raising reservations."

• "As the referendum approached, there were doubts as to whether the Mossos would carry out their functions. De los Cobos thought they would."

• "The only way to guarantee that nothing would happen was to call off the referendum."

• Zoido repeats: "If the Mossos had done their job, the situation would have been completely different."

• Zoido says that the police and Civil Guard were subject to violent aggression in some centres.

In answer to the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Zoido says:

• "There were people who were being coordinated to hinder the work of the police. The blame [for violence] lies not with the police but with those who called for participation in a referendum that had been prohibited."

• "Those who direct operations are people who have shown professional ability and experience. I only say that the law has to be followed and court orders complied with."

In answer to counsel for the popular prosecution, Vox, Zoido says:

• "There was planning and coordination so as to hinder the work of the police."

• "I was told that the Riot Squad of the Mossos was not to be seen."

• "The action of the police was adjusted to fit in with what the legal authority demanded. Their performance was rational and proportionate and their use of force was reasonable, even with important injuries to the officers."

• On the cries of "Go get 'em" which accompanied the police and Civil Guard to Catalonia and which some police chanted themselves: "I heard about it on the TV--I didn't approve of these experessions."

• The police had to use rubber bullets to force their way out of polling stations. He did not know that tear gas was used in one polling station (Aiguaviva).

• The universal electoral roll [allowing voters to vote at any polling station] had to be introduced because of the Civil Guard's success in closing down web sites.

• He does not know what criteria were used to try to close down polling stations. Pérez de los Cobos and his team will be able to answer that.

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Testimony of Xavier Domènech

Xavier Domènech makes the following points:

• "My wife and child were at the [September 20]  demonstration and it was in no way violent."

• "The State had got into a warfare dynamic and it was logical for us to mobilise."

• "It was the people of Catalonia who made October 1 so great: it was the biggest piece of self-organisation of recent times."

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February 27 | Day 8: Witness testimony begins: Joan Tardà, Artur Mas, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, Mariano Rajoy, Cristóbal Montoro, Marta Pascal, Antonio Baños, Eulalia Reguant and Núria de Gispert (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

 

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For an English-language summary of Day 8 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 8 summary

Testimony of Joan Tardà

Tardà says that he will reply to the questions of popular prosecution Vox in Catalan. Presiding judge Marchena insists that "as a witness you are obliged to use the official language of the court in which the trial is taking place."

Tardà: " This trial has been inspired by the revenge of a state that feels humiliated by October 1."

Marchena: "I ask you to comply with helping clarify the facts, but without offering appraisals."

Tardà reaffirms his support for the disobedience of October 1: "It represented the will of a defenceless, civic, peaceful and democratic people."

The representative of the Solicitor-General asks Tardà about the document 'Enfocats' (supposedly the secret road-map to Catalan independence, found by the Civil Guard during a search of the house of Department of Economy secretary Josep Maria Jové). Tardà corrects the counsel's pronunciation of Jové's name.

Tardà tells Andreu Van den Eynde, counsel for Raül Romeva and Oriol Junqueras, that at the September 20 demonstration outside the Department of Economy he said not to fall for any provocation [because] "I was afraid that there were infiltrators there."

Tardà recalls that after October 1, the PSOE criticised Sáenz de Santamaria for the violence of the police and Civil Guard, but changed their tune after the King Philip's October 3 speech.

On the adoption at a single reading by the Catalan parliament of the referendum law: "I've experienced parliamentary bills adopted in a single reading by the Congress--the reform of the Constitution, the organic laws governing the electoral system and the Constitutional Court."

On violence: "Neither the unity of Spain nor the independence of Catalonia is worth an atom of violence."

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Testimony of Artur Mas

On the idea of a referendum: "It was the government of the Generalitat that decided to call the referendum. [...] In the summer of 2016, after a lot of consultations President Puigdemont arrived at the conclusion that it would be good if there were a second consultation, a referendum. [...] It was neither in the election platform [of JxSí] nor in the program of the government. [...] The October 1 referendum was an attempt to count one more time how many people there were for and against independence."

On whether there was a mandate for a referendum: "If you look at the whole photo of the independence process, of course there was a mandate."

On a negotiated v. a unilateral referendum: "The preference was always for a negotiated referendum [...] The unilateral path was never discarded 100% in relation to October 1 so as not to lose negotiating position, but it was not the first, second nor third option. [...] We had the example of Scotland, and we thought we could find the ways through to an agreement."

On strategy: "I allowed myself the licence of reminding [Puigdemont] that if he opted for a referendum [...] he should never lose the capacity for institutional initiative in a legal framework that the Generalitat could control. [...] Never lose the capacity to call elections to the Catalan parliament."

On possible collaboration between Puigdemont, the ANC and Òmnium Cultural: Puigdemont never told Mas if he had consulted these organisations about the advisability of holding a referendum.

On the referendum law and the  Law of Transitionality [adopted on September 6 and 7, 2017]: "It was commonly expected that they would be suspended by the Constitutional Court but no-one felt that they shouldn't be voted on."

On legality: "The commitment to the whole thing having a legal basis was an genuine obsession; there was a desire never to get into a legal vacuum."

On the reaction expected from the Spanish government: "The experience of 9N [the November 9, 2014 "participatory process"] showed us the path the Spanish government and the State might take: accuse us of disobedience but nothing more."

On the leadership of the independence referendum process: "The meetings of the strategic committee of the process were informal. There was no agenda, different people attended and there were no minutes. Impossible to be more informal."

On prosecution allegations that the Catalan police were part of the referendum plan: "[Interior minister Joaquim Forn always insisted that the operations of the Mossos always had to be conducted on a strictly professional basis."

On the violence of October 1: "I thought the State wouldn't be so unintelligent as do something that would damage its reputation around the world. I was wrong."

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In answer to questions from the popular prosecution Vox, Sáenz de Santamaria says that:

• She always refused to talk about a referendum in her three meetings with her Catalan counterpart Oriol Junqueras.

• She denounced the "social fracture" that was opening up in Catalonia because of the "process".

• The Rajoy government wanted a greater presence of the State in Catalonia because "Catalonia is Spain".

• Any unconstitutional action by Catalan authorities or institutions was appealed to the Constitutional Court.

• The article 155 intervention was carried out to protect national sovereignty and the rule of law.

• The decision to send 6000 extra police and Civil Guards to Catalonia was taken after the "violence" of September 20.

• The Rajoy government applied article 155 and not article 116 (state of emergency) so as not to damage social harmony.

• A referendum did not take place on October 1, because the Central Electoral Board later so ruled.

In answer to the counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Sáenz de Santamaria says that:

• The only way a referendum can take place in Catalonia is via reform of the Constitution. In the absence of such a reform, no democratically elected government can allow a referendum.

• Rajoy had invited Puigdemont to defend his referendum proposal in the Spanish Congress, but he didn't accept because he didn't want Congress to vote on it.

• "There were acts of volence every day before October 1 and up until October 27." Constitutionalist local councilors were subject to theats and pressure.

• The Unilateral Declaration of Independence of October 27 was not "symbolic": that's why article 155 was applied.

• "The National Police and the Civil Guard avoided an even more serious situation". Police violence is not pleasant but if there hadn't been a call to form human walls it wouldn't have happened.

• She did not know of the detail of police operations on October 1 because of the separation of powers.

• The "acts of violence" of September 20 were to prevent the search and stop the legal search group from leaving the building.

• She received no calls asking her to stop the police charges on October 1.

• That 93 police were injured on the day [this conflicts with the figure of over 431 given at the time by the interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido].

In answer to defence counsel, Sáenz de Santamaria:

• Says that he article 155 intervention in the Catalan interior ministry [removing the minister, head of department and chief of police] had to be more radical than in other departments, because of the collusion of the Catalan police in October 1;

• Admits she was unaware of any resistance in the ministry after the intervention took place;

• Concedes she was unaware of a Catalan police report warning of the possible consequences of any attempt to stop the referendum physically;

• Concedes she was unaware of the instructions of the Spanish Secretary of State that called for the police forces to favour the maintenance of social harmony on October 1, and not seek to remove ballot boxes at any cost;

• Admits she did not know why coordinating meetings between the Catalan and Spanish police bodies were called off in the days before October 1;

• Says that the Spanish interior minister sent the extra police to Catalonia in response to a court order, when it was in fact a Rajoy government decision;

• Fails to answer a question by defense lawyer Xavier Melero as to whether the Spanish police forces were sent to support or replace the Catalan police and has to be instructed to answer the question by judge Marchena;

• Insists that "governments have to maintain response flexibility" [this in relation to a question by Romeva's and Junqueras's defence counsel Jordi Pina explaining that a ship for the police and Civil Guard was leased on September 19, one day before the "·violence" of September 20, which Sáenz de Santamaria said had provoked the decision to send 6000 more police to Catalonia];

• Concedes that the Rajoy government did not recriminalise the holding of referendums, decriminalised by the preceding PSOE government;

• Admits she cannot give any examples of violence committed by the independence movement before the referendum; and

• Insists she did not receive any communication from UN human rights rapporteurs calling on Spain to respect human rights.

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Testimony of Mariano Rajoy

In response to the popular prosecution Vox, Rajoy says:

• "There was never anything to talk about with regard to the referendum. From my first meeting with Artur Mas I made it clear that I would not breach the law and liquidate national sovereignty."

• "It is the Spanish people who decide about Spain and not an autonomous community [state in Australian and the US, province in Canada]."

• "There was no referendum."

• "The relevant ministries made the decisions about police and Civil Guard deployment."

In response to counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Rajoy says:

• "There were many different opinions about how and when to apply article 155, enough for all tastes";

• "When a declaration of independence is produced and the president of an autonomous community is asked to set things straight and he refuses, the decision can only be the one we took."

In reply to the counsel for the Solicitor-General's Office, Rajoy says that the differences between the November 9, 2014 "participatory process" and the October 1 referendum were what justified applying article 155.

In response to defence counsel, Rajoy:

• Asserts that he had no meeting with any other witness before testifying;

• Says that "you would have to be blind to say there was no abuse", when asked to produce examples of unionist local councilors suffering intimidation;

• Denies accepting any mediation attempt from Basque president Iñigo Urkullu;

• Says he cannot remember if the Catalan Agreement on the National Transition [basis for the 2015-2017 Catalan government] had been challenged in the Constitutional Court;

• Says he did not order Enric Millo, the central government representative in Catalonia, to apologise to all those injured on October 1;

• Says that he "can't remember" if there violent incidents between September 20 and October 1;

• Says that no police representatives spoke to him on October 1;

• Says that police were sent to Catalonia because of the "exceptional situation";

• Says he can't remember if the National Pact for the Referendum [grouping pro-sovereignty entities in Catalonia] had sent him a letter requesting a referendum; and

• Comments on a video showing police violence at Sant Carles de la Ràpita: "If the law hadn't been broken, these images would not be being seen."

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Former Spanish finance minister Cristobal Montoro, replying to popular prosecution Vox, says that:

• From September 2017 all the funds of the Generalitat (Catalan government) were placed under central government control, with a system never before used that guaranteed "absolute control" of spending.

• All reports from the Civil Guard and the various prosecutions were checked by the Ministry of Finance.

In responding to counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office Montoro says that:

• Once the referendum was announced financial controls passed from monthly to weekly.

• "Now that the Generalitat was under financial intervention, it was impossible for it to pay for the referendum from its own funds." However, this did not cover spending already undertaken, such as publicity for the referendum.

• "irregularities that might have indicated misuse of public funds were sent to the Prosecutor-General's Office."

In responding to defence counsel, Montoro says:

• On the phrase he uttered in Congress in 2018 ("Not a euro of public money was spent on the referendum"): "Sometimes on certain themes we simplify a bit."

• That he is unaware if the Generalitat gave an order to UniPost, as claimed by the Civil Guard.

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Testimony of Marta Pascal

Former PDECat general coordinator Marta Pascal, replying to popular prosecution Vox, says that:

• "We talked about many things with Carles Puigdemont and he, along with the government, took the decision to hold the referendum."

In responding to counsel for the Prosecutor-General's Office Pascal says that:

• She had no knowledge of the document 'Enfocats' until she saw it published.

• "Achieving independence for Catalonia is among our most noble ideals, but always peacefully. It's also true that I don't support the unilateral road." She communicated to Puigdemont in October 2017 that she supported calling early elections to avoid an article 155 suspension of Catalan self-rule.

• (On parliamentary sessions of September 6 and 7): "All the groups could present amendments, and they did. [...] Speaker Forcadell's attitude was to give all MPs a chance to intervene."

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Former CUP MP Baños refuses to answer the questions of popular prosecution Vox: "On the grounds of democratic and antifascist dignity I refuse to be questioned by Vox."

Marchena proposes that he personally repeat Vox's questions and Baños agrees, but after the second question refuses to continue with this formula and is suspended from the court by Marchena.

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Eulàlia Reguant asks to be able to speak in Catalan and not reply to the questions of Vox: "In the presence of the extreme right, a male chauvinist and xenophobic party, I refuse to answer their questions," She too is removed from the court by Marchena.

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Former Catalan parliament speaker Núria de Gispert, replying to defence counsel and the prosecutor, says that:

• The speakership panel during her time allowed a motion in support of Catalan independence to be debated by parliament, without any legal consequences. Also a parliamentary commission to study the right of self-determination was set up, and was not appealed to the Constitutional Court.

• The recommendations of the Commission of Statutory Guarantees and parliamentary counsel are not binding: parliament itself has to decide whether to accept them.

• Plenaries of parliament often change the day's agenda proposed by the speakership panel: however, she had not seen legislation adopted as quickly as in the 12 or 14 hours  taken to adopt the referendum and transitionality laws on September 6 and 7.

• She would have handled the sessions of September 6 and 7 exactly as done by Carme Forcadell.

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February 26 | Day 7: Testimony of Jordi Cuixart and Carme Forcadell (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 7 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 7 summary

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Testimony of Jordi Cuixart

Cuixart, president of Òmnium Cultural, agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

He explains that Òmnium Cultural does not have a specific political line, but seeks to generate consensus among all those who support a Catalan right to self-determination. Òmnium signed the declaration of a road map to independence before the September 27, 2015 elections because the elections were posed as a plebiscite on independence.

Cuixart: "I am a political prisoner, not a politician in prison."

Cuixart: "Our headquarters has been searched by police three times in its history [which began in 1961]. On this last search, ordered by [investigating magistrate Pablo] Llarena, they downloaded 30,000 of my emails." He denies that a "democratic tsunami" that he calls for in one of his tweets was aimed at increasing social tension and says  that the web site Call for Democracy "responded to the need to publicise the referendum".

Asked as to the meaning of an email referring to an Òmnium reserve fund of "500,000 llonganissas [thin, cured, pork sausages--slang for euros] Cuixart explains that it is to counter official Spanish propaganda celebrating October 12 (the "Day of the Race", celebrating the "discovery" of Latin America). "It was an internal email. Maybe I didn't express myself with the necessary elegance, had I known it was going to be anaylsed in this chamber."

Cuixart: "I have always supported ongoing mobilisation--I hope that's not being questioned here."

Cuixart denounces the closure of hundreds of pro-referendum web sites, done without legal warrant.

Cuixart says he can't recall when he learned that the Constitutional Court had suspended the referendum law, but that "in the face of a suspension of fundamental rights we shall never give up on asserting them."

Cuixart explains that the demonstration of September 20 was spontaneous, and that only after people started gathering outside the Department of Economy did Òmnium come out in support of it.

Cuixart: "How would French society react if its financial autonomy were suspended?

"The only violence produced on October 1 was done by the [Spanish National] police and the Civil Guard. [...] The modern Catalanist movement has never used violence, but we will always defend democracy by showing our disagreement with attacks on the headquarters of our government and parties."

[Presiding judge Marchena intervenes twice to ask Cuixart not to offend the dignity of the court with expressions like "bloody hell".]

On the damage done to the Civil Guard cars: "I get irritated when things are broken, whether they're mine or not, and I made it clear that same day that I didn't support the behaviour of damaging the Civil Guard cars."

On the decision of the legal secretary of Barcelona Court Number 13, which authorised the search, to leave the building via the roof top to the neighbouring building [ostensibly for fear of the crowd]: "She could have used the traffic passage [created by ANC volunteers to allow people to enter and leave], and I would have been pleased if she had."

In answer to the prosecutor's suggestion that he should have called the demonstration off early: "The right to demonstrate can't be questioned and if there was no violence, why should I have called it off?"

On he and Jordi Sànchez speaking to the crowd from the roof of a Civil Guard car:  [He and Sànchez had already called for the demonstration to end at midnight] "but since many people were telling us they hadn't heard us we had to climb onto the Civil Guard car to get the message across."

On the decision to go ahead with the referendum after the referendum law had been suspended by the Constitutional Court: "Caught in the dilemma between obeying the Constitutional Court or exercising basic human rights, we chose basic human rights."

On civil disobedience: "Civil disobedience is not to be punished [...] It's a tool societies have for achieving social progress." Cuixart refers to the case of the 97 days of continuous prayer successfully conducted in a Dutch church to prevent the deportation of an Armenian family.

On the occupation of polling stations from September 28: "The more people there were in the polling stations, the quicker you could see that the violence was disproportionate."

On consultation of Catalan public opinion: "We'll try to celebrate as many referendums as possible until there's one without police violence whose result can be implemented."

On relations with other people of the Spanish State: "They want us to confront the other peoples of the Spanish State, but they won't succeed because we are sister peoples."

Cuixart: "The prosecutor doesn't like my answers. But I don't have any others."

On possibly violent minorities: "There were groups that didn't fit the profile of our demonstrators. We urged them not to use violence and they didn't. There were no incidents. Maybe some people would have liked it if there had been."

On non-violent resistance: "On October 1 we called for hands in the air and backside on the gound. Our main concern was that no-one get things wrong and break the discipline of non-violence in the face of the attacks. [...] Non-violent resistance means 'non-violent'. It doesn't mean 'passive' or 'doing nothing': place yourself in a fixed position and show dissent, but never resort to violence."

NOTE: During Cuixart's testimony 1500 people joined Òmnium Cultural, making it the biggest association in Catalonia (over 143,000), ahead of Barcelona FC.

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Testimony of Carme Forcadell

Forcadell agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

Forcadell denounces the violation of language rights involved in her not being able to testify in Catalan.

Forcadell: "I had nothing to do with the electoral program of Together for the Yes (JxSí), and I only knew I would become speaker a week before it happened [against prosecution suggestions that she had been part of a secessionist high command]. [...] I didn´t develop or lead any strategy."

On her responsibilities as speaker and the responsibilities of the speakership board (proportionately composed of parties with representation in the parliament) :

• "The panel does not have the authority to weigh the constitutionality of items of parliamentary business. Otherwise it would be limiting debate."

• (Explaining why the speakership panel has only refused to put items of business before the parliament on two occasions): "The content of a proposal has to be considered in depth only when it's a question of citizen-initiated legislation."

• "The essence of democracy is that  parliament has to be free to debate. We have to be able to talk about everything in parliament. At the speakership panel we've always had regards for basic rights like political pluralism and freedom of expression."

• "The Constitutional Court was asking us for something impossible: how the panel could convert itself into an organ of censorship and decide what parliament can and can't talk about. Censorship has no place in parliament." Later, in answer to her own counsel, he cites the speaker of the British parliament saying that he would accept a discussion on the right of self-determination.

• "The panel can only organise the debate and the speaking list--the house itself is sovereign and supreme."

On the non-binding opinion of the parliament's legal counsel with regard to ignoring Constitutional Court injunctions:

• "At the time of voting, we have always communicated the opinion of counsel to parliament, which is the highest body."

• "The counsel sometimes act with a excess of self-protection and zeal, and they are right to do so."

On the status of parliament's declaration of independence (October 27)

• "On October 27 two resolutions were adopted and a preamble that was a political declaration without legal impications."

On her actions on Sepember 6 and 7 (when the laws were adopted on the referendum and the transition to a Catalan legal regime in case of a Yes vote)

• Forcadell explains that the process of adopting the referendum law with a single reading has been used in a variety of parliaments: "We abided strictly by the standing orders of the Parliament of Catalonia."

• Forcadell notes that speakership panel Joan Josep Nuet, although he supported the decision to have parliament treat the referendum law, was not charged because he is not an independentist. "I don't understand why I am being judged by this court when my fellow panel members who voted to adopt the same items of business as I did are being tried by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) for disobedience.

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International Trial Watch's assessment of second week of trial

NOTE: ITW's assesment of the second week of the trial is so far only available in Castilian (Spanish), here. The following observations on the assessment appeared in Ara in English on February 26.

Referendum trial observers: Prosecutor’s questions that “criminalise” demonstrations are “worrying”

International Trial Watch decries last Wednesday’s drawn-out court session and the fact that a calendar for the trial has not been made public

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February 25 | Court not sitting

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Latest Spanish state poll (GAD3, published in ABC)

On King Philip's visit to Barcelona to open the Mobile World Congress

• Spanish king draws Barcelona protests once again as MWC trade fair begins

• Quim Torra and Ada Colau walk out on formal greeting for Spain's King Philip

• Torra reminds King Philip about Puigdemont and Catalan ministers in jail and exile

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Comment (Editorial, El Nacional)

Was this the trial that the State wanted?

With the first two weeks of the Catalan independence trial behind us, we can now make a very preliminary initial analysis of the proceedings in the Supreme Court, having heard the testimonies of seven of the nine political prisoners in preventative jail, as well as those of the three other members of the Catalan Government charged and on bail. It is quite obvious from what has happened up till now that, after six court sessions, the rebellion charges seem further away than ever, the misuse of funds has still not been demonstrated, and even the disobedience remains in the air. Both the Public Prosecutors and the State Solicitor have hit a brick wall in their attempts to drive ahead with a narrative which is known to be false and which only unionist politics and Spanish nationalist media have been clinging to against the odds.

Was this the trial that was wanted by judges, political parties that voted for article 155 and others? Obviously not. Of those people in legal spheres that I've spoken to in this last fortnight, I haven't managed to find anyone with the perception that the trial is going well for those who pressed on regardless with the scandalous preventative detention and the demands for heavy sentences for the Catalan prisoners. This is so clear that a phrase uttered by king Felipe VI on claimed democracies and compliance with the law has been quickly interpreted as a subtle hint to the judges that they should not be moved by the lack of any evidence of guilt.

This strengthens the argument that the trial is intended, above all, to teach a lesson to the independence movement and that the defendants must not be let off with minor sentences. International observers have already realized how weak the prosecution cases are. A cartoon in The New York Times gives a perfect visual summary of what other media have expressed in words. Oriol Junqueras is seen with a small Catalan estelada flag in his hand telling the judges, "I don't recognize your independence," and the three justices behind their courtroom bench are flanked by two large Spanish flags.

In view of how the trial has unfolded over these two weeks, the State has implemented the best strategy it had: turning off the broadcasts in Spain that allowed the public to follow the trial live on television. Thus, the only truth that reaches them is that transmitted by the written press, the radio and TV news programmes. And in this way the Casados, Riveras, Borrells, Sánchezs and so many others can distort the truth. As we already know, the first casualty in a conflict is the freedom of information.

Translation: El Nacional

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Week ending February 24

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February 24 | Court not sitting

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The Spanish monarchy at work

• King Philip's nephew attends right-wing rally

• The king, protected by law from having to appear in the trial of the Catalan leaders, comments on it: "Without respect for the law, democracy doesn't exist"

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Catalonia-related news

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February 23 | Court not sitting

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Catalonia-related news

• (El Nacional) Catalan Council for the Republic to present a strategic proposal "to culminate independence"

• (El Nacional) European Parliament backtracks on exhibition on Catalan language

• (El Nacional) Quebec's Catalan community has finally beaten the punitive effects of Article 155

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February 22 | Court not sitting

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Some comment on the trial

• Lawyer Gonzalo Boye in El Nacional: From "Fair Trial" to Mis-trial

• Ramin Jahanbegloo (Center for Mahatma Gandhi studies, Jindal Global University) in Ara: Witnessing Justice in Catalonia: Once again the problem of justice in Spain is in the balance

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February 21 | Day 6: Testimony of Santi Vila and Jordi Sànchez--day of general strike and protests in Catalonia (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

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Images from today's general strike and protest marches in Catalonia

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Following of general strike

Vila agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

Vila states that he was a minister in the Mas and Puigdemont governments but not an MP for the "eclectic" Together for the Yes (JxSí) and that he resigned on October 26, 2017 because he disagreed with the impending declaration of independence by the Catalan Parliament.

Vila: "On September 6, the referendum law was approved and then immediately suspended by the Constitutional Court. From that moment on neither I nor any other of my government colleagues took any decision in relation to that law." After the suspension, October 1 took on the character of a political mobilisation.

Vila says that the idea of the referendum was a "trick" of Puigdemont's in the face of pressure from a section of society that was demanding unilateral action for independence. "We wanted to tension the rope without breaking it so that a civic, peaceful, persistent and repetitive sentiment would find its path."

"The government did not spend a euro on the referendum [...] My intuition is that it was financed by various businessmen and patrons committed to the initiative."

Vila says that his support for the referendum, and that of a part of the citizens, was aimed at making it a "lever to produce a new wave of reforms and updating of the constitutional consensus" and to drag the Spanish government out of its "inertia".

On how to respond to the result of October 1: "I resigned in frustration because after October 1 interpretations differed as to what had happened: some saw it as a referendum, others as a very important mobilisation."

Vila stresses his own efforts to avoid the "lunacy" of a Universal Declaration of Independence (UDI) and that he believed by October 25 he had achieved that and that "no unilateral action" would be taken. However,  "I told Puigdemont that if we were going to be sorcerer's apprentices under the pressure of the social networks, I would have to resign."

Answering the representative for the Solicitor-General's Office, Vila says:

• "The solution for Catalonia will require the Catalans being able to vote on their own self-government."

• "Many people would not have voted were it not for the disproportionate and unnecessary behaviour of the Spanish police. Many voted out of solidarity and a feeling of having been wounded."

• "What happened in Catalonia is unworthy of a modern and democratic society like the Catalan."

Answering the questions of his own counsel:

• On his role as a negotiator between the Catalan and Spanish governments with a view to avoiding a UDI and an article 155 intervention against Catalan self-rule: "There was a lot more that was moderate and centre-of-the-road in both governments than is often told."

• "We had to be the government of the more than two million Catalans who stayed at home."

• "President Puigdemont wanted me to stay by his side. I had and I still have good relations with important PP and PSOE figures:"

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Sànchez  agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox. He is first cross-examined for over three hours by the lead prosecutor, Javier Zaragoza.

According to the Prosceutor-General's charge sheet against Sànchez, and Òmnium Cultural president Jordi Cuixart, "they contemplated the use of any means necessary to achieve their objective [of independence], including violence" [...] "making use of intimidatory force arising from the tumultuous acts, involving mass protests that they instigated and promoted".

Sànchez begins his appearance by deploring the lack of simultaneous translation from Catalan into Castilian (Spanish):" I have the same right as any other citizen in this state to use the mother tongue. The Supreme Court has lost an opportunity for pedagogy as to what a multicultural and plurinational state should be."

Sànchez: "I consider myself a political prisoner, and that I am in a political trial. [...] I am convinced that all the charges against me are false. I am not at all afraid to reply to them. [...] I am in this court because I was president of the ANC."

Sànchez is cross-examined closely and and in detail by prosecutor Zaragoza, particularly with regard to the September 20, 2017 mass demonstration outside the Catalan Department of Economy, which was the subject of a Civil Guard search where the vehicles of those conducting the search were covered in stickers, their tyres let down and windows broken.

On the "road map" to independence adopted by the ANC in 2015: Sànchez: "Everyone makes road maps. They are declarations of intention, with the value that political intentions have [...] when scenarios are open and changing."

On the ideology and activity of the ANC: Sànchez stresses the legal and "absolutely peaceful" character of the ANC and the demonstrations it has organised.

Sànchez's defence counsel complains that prosecutor Zaragoza is citing his testimony to the investigating magistrate Pablo Llarena out of context and distorting its literal meaning.

Purpose of the demonstration of September 20: "That demonstration to protest--and only to protest--a legal decision was done with the theme 'Let's Defend The Institutions!', a proclamation that wasn't just mine or the ANC's."

Status of a legal decision: "A judicial decision should be respected, but that doesn't exclude its being protested. [...] That's why we called on the citizens of Catalonia to mobilise [...] to protest and show indignation against a judicial decision whose basic motiation we didn't know."

Number of tweets made on the day: "I don't remember," says Sànchez, stressing that all tweets called for a peaceful protest against the searches of Catalan government and private premises.

Contacts had with Catalan government ministers on the day: "I got a call from the interior minister [Joaquim Forn], saying that we would have to help with security and order issues to do with the demonstration, and leave a passage to help the legal search team enter the building."

Role of the ANC volunteer security guard on the day: "We've always had a security guard to guarantee safety at any event. A group that has always acted in coordination with the police and emergency services." He says that Forn asked for these volunteers to create a "traffic passage" to facilitate normal operations inside and outside the building and that he, Sànchez, communicated this request to Josep Lluís Trapero, the head of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police).

Contact with the Civil Guard: A lieutenant of the Civil Guard informed Sànchez that there were large calibre weapons in the cars. "That caused me nervous tension like that I've rarely experienced at a demonstration."  Just after midday he called on the ANC's security volunteers to stop guarding the Civil Guard cars because that was not their responsibility. "Providing a security service shouldn't be confused with maintaining public order: that was in the hands of the Mossos and the Civil Guard."

Mood on the day: Sánchez describes it as "festive", and says there were no moments of tension.

On contradictions claimed by the prosecution between his evidence to the investigating magistrate and to the court: "Next week I will have been in prison for 500 days, and it must be 530 days since I testified before the examining magistrate."

On the functioning of the "traffic passage" and access to the vehicle entrance to the Department of Economy building: "The Civil Guard lieutenant said that the traffic passage did not seem to him to an adequate method for moving out any detainees because it was not safe. [But], technically, it was neither reasonable nor common sense to try to shift the demonstrators. I didn't see myself capable of shifting thousands of people so a few vehicles could enter [the car entrance]."

Prosecutor: "So you were conscious that you were hindering the conduct of the legal authorities?" "The court search team was carrying out its work in an absolutely normal manner [...] Even if I had wanted too, I couldn't have called off that demonstration with a megaphone. [...] There was no attempt by the Civil Guard and the search team to leave the building and then have to go back inside because they couldn't leave."

On the visual evidence: "There's not a second in those images showing the search team being in a situation of risk."

On the few violent incidents on the day: These happened "after the vast majority of the demonstration had left", thanks to the efforts of himself and Jordi Cuixart in declaring it over.

On the damage to the Civil Guard cars: "It has no justification."

On the prosecution ascribing any disorders on the day to the ANC: "You're assuming that I and the ANC volunteers assumed responsibility for security on September 20, and that is false."

Motive for the charges against himself and Jordi Cuixart: "We are being punished for leading civic organisations and exercising the right to free expression."

On his call to keep the demonstration going because "it's going to a long night": "At that point nobody had said that the court search team had finished its work. [...] Our commitment was that the demonstration would finish as midnight."

In answer to the persistent implication of the prosecutor that he should have called the demonstration off early: "Please, a sticker on a vehicle is no reason to call off a demonstration of between 40,000 and 60,000 people!"

On prosecution claims that the Civil Guard was "beseiged" in the Department of Economy building until 7am on the morning of September 21: "This was the time it took for the Barcelona municipal tow trucks to come to remove the damaged Civil Guard cars."

On the decision of the legal secretary of Barcelona Court Number 13, which authorised the search, to leave the building via the roof top to the neighbouring building [ostensibly for fear of the crowd]: "All the conditions were in place for her to leave via the front door, and no-one knew who she was."

On he and Jordi Cuixart speaking to the crowd from the roof of a Civil Guard car: He didn't ask the Civil Guard for permission but told the lieutenant in charge he was going to do it,. The lieutenant said he should do it so as to be seen.

On the damage done to the Civil Guard cars: "This damage does not justify the narrrative of an uprising with the goal of harming persons and vehicles. [...] This damage took place because the demonstration was in part improvised and because it's always possible that a few will take advantage of anonymity to cause damage. That can happen at a demonstration, but also at a concert or a sporting event. I don't believe it was because of the tension of the referendum."

Clarifying and defending ANC participation in the preparation of the referendum

• The ANC distributed ballot papers to the population and asked that they be reproduced so there would be enough on the day [the previously printed ballot papers had been impounded by the Civil Guard].

• "We carried out a public campaign in  support of participation in the referendum, we organised events with thousands of people, and we were never told we couldn't do that, nor was participation prohibited."

• No judicial authority issued any ruling forbidding citizen participation in the referendum. "When the citizenry want to take part in a referendum that carries no legal sanction it has every right to do so".

• "The legislative body [the Spanish parliament] modified the penal code to establish that holding a referendum could not be a crime. October 1 was a civic event that no legal authority had proscribed. After October 1, I learned that the Constitutional Court had suspended it, but the sentence didn't arrive until after October 1." Previously, the only legal order was that of the TSJC [Higher Court of Justice of Catalonia] instructing the State's security forces and bodies to not allow the referendum.

• "The judge [of the TSJC, Mercedes Armas] in no case said that activities couldn't be conducted in the schools [in the days  before the referendum], she only said that the Generalitat couldn't count votes there."

• "I am aware that there were around 2000 polling stations and that there was a festive atmosphere in the majority of these. In some there was a police presence with a disproportionate use of force."

• "The right to demonstrate to demand the right to self-determination is not illegal. The public prosecuto never demanded of any court that it ban these situations [...] What is surprising is that without any previous criminal summons I find myself here responding to a demand for 17 years jail."

Finally, Sànchez rejects having ever proposed surrounding polling stations with cars, as proposed to him by an email from a certain "Xabi Strubell", offered as evidence by the prosecution. In the face of Zaragoza's insistance on this point, he compares his denial with that which judge Marchena himself made when a whatsapp by PP Senate leader Ignacio Cosidó asserted that the PP was controlling the trial "via the back door". "I don't want to be impertinent but it's like when the presiding judge of this chamber denied knowledge of certain whatapps compromising him."

In his answers to Rosa María Seoane, representing the Solicitor-General's Office, Sànchez says:

• "The right to non-violent resistance is an act of legitimate protest that should not produce any violence on the part of the police."

• "The activities organised by the collective 'Open Schools' [between September 28-30] were not prohibited. There was no reason to think that these activities shouldn't have taken place." Sànchez reminds Seoane that TSJC judge Mercedes Ayala allowed the centres to remain open."

Sànchez's defence counsel Jordi Pina shows video evidence, which Sànchez says supports the following conclusions:

• The demonstration of September 20 was completely peaceful;

• Communications between Sànchez and the Civil Guard lieutenant in charge of the search were normal and correct;

• The song sung ironically by the crowd when the Civil Guard and search team finally left the premises of the Department of Economy (Passiu-ho bé--Have a Good Time) showed they had no intention of restraining or intimidating them;

• "The cameras show that the police vehicles arrived at 0800, and there are people who get out and enter the Department. Afterwards, incomprehensibly, even though there's a car park alongside, the vehicles aren't parked there." Moreover, in another location where the Civil Guards conduct a search, their vehicles are guarded by the agents themselves;

• "All the businesses and bars in the vicinity remained open all day without incidents. That proves there was no climate of tension"; and

• The Civil Guards used the "traffic passage" created by the ANC volunteer security guard without problem, and the media clambered on top of the Civil Guard cars to get a better view of the demonstration.

Other points made by Sànchez in answer to defence counsel are:

• "I had no knowledge of the document 'Enfocats'." Sànchez says he was only able to read it because it is including in the Prosecutor-General's charge sheet. It is "way off the mark".

• The ANC has never received money from the Catalan government and has always been demanding towards it.

• "The goal of the ANC is Catalan independence. That has never caused us any legal problem."

• "I never called any referendum: I urged the people to participate."

Jordi Pina finishes his defence by showing, as a contrast to September 20,  a video of police and Civil Guard action on October 1.

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February 20 | Day 5: Testimony of Josep Rull, Dolors Bassa, Meritxell Borras and Carles Mundó (Catalan public media coverage in English here, here, here and here)

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Commentary on the trial to date

• (VilaWeb) Eight examples of dirty tactics employed by Spanish Supreme Court in referendum trial

• (VilaWeb) How is Spain ‘informing’ the international press about the Catalan referendum trial?

• (International Trial Watch)

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For an English-language summary of Day 5 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 5 summary

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Testimony of Josep Rull (Sources: Ara, 3/24, El Nacional)

Rull repeats the complaints of previous defendants as to the lack of simultaneous translation: "The right to be able to use your own language is a basic right [...] All too frequently I have the impression that the Catalan language is still seen as a threat or a problem. Let's hope that it will be seen one day as an asset and want to be shared."

Rull agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox, "out of respect for all those who have suffered its xenophobia, racism, homophobia and transphobia".

Rull defends the "plebiscitary election" of September 27, 2015--won by pro-independence forces--but stresses that "the best mandate is that of a referendum".

Rull says that there is room for a referendum within the Spanish Constitution "if the political will exists".

The prosecution refers to the million-plus demonstrations every Catalan National Day (September 11) as "spectacles". Rull: "Does the existence of civil, peaceful and massive demonstrations have to be the subject of a question posed in these terms?" Presiding judge Marchena asks Rull to refrain from commentary on the prosecution's questions.

Rull agrees that there was a €6 million line item for conducting a referendum in the 2017 budget bill, but says this was intended for a referendum agreed with the State.

Rull agrees that he received six injunctions from the Constitutional Court prohibiting any work in relation to an independence referendum, but denounces the Court's "lack of moral legitimacy", given that it has simply become an instrument in the hands of the Spanish government. As a result "the autonomy of Catalonia has become absolutely minimal".

Rull: "In our actions we always sought the right balance between the rule of law and the democratic principle."

He adds: "Signing the referendum bill was one of the most moving and important moments in my political life."

On the bills establishing the referendum and the transition to Catalan legality in case of a "Yes majority" (passed on September 6 and 7, 2017): "We always guaranteed political plurality." The prosecutor insists that they were passed so quickly to beat a Constitutional Court restraining order.

Rull reminds the prosecution that Catalan government finances were under total Spanish government control at the time of the referendum: "Not a euro of public money was spent on the referendum."

Rull: "We [the government] didn't have a clue where the ballot boxes were, but we were sure they would arrive on the day."

On the September 20 demonstration outside the Catalan Department of Economy: "Using the concepts of riot, mob and instrument of coercion seems a little surprising to me."

On his refusal to dock the Loony Tunes vessel (Moby Dada) loaded with police and Civil Guards at the port of Palamos on September 21, 2017: "They didn't use the established procedure for getting permission to dock at a port of the Generalitat." Later, when questioned by his counsel Jordi Pina, Rull says that, even when correct procedures were finally followed, there was no space at Palamos and the docking had to take place in Barcelona.

Rull: "I share scrupulous respect for Spain as a state of law. It therefore seems unheard of that a prosecutor should say 'Don't force us to go beyond the law'

On closures of polling stations on October 1: "How many did the Mossos close without violence, and how many the forces of the State with violence?"

On the October 27 independence declaration: "I voted yes: it was a political declaration."

See also: (El Nacional) Rull: Catalan trial prosecutors made "Frankenstein construction" out of 'El Nacional' interview

Testimony of Dolors Bassa (Sources: Ara, 3/24)

Bassa agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of her defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox, "out of respect for the women of Spain".

On the existence of a joint strategy as outlined in the document 'Enfocats': "There was never a joint strategy: there was a joint program that was never invalidated or challenged legally [...] I understood that holding the referendum was not a crime and that there were international norms that were protecting its taking place."

Bassa: "We never considered the possibility of not holding the referendum because we didn't think it was a crime. It was the ruling of the Constitutional Court versus the 80% of the population who were asking for it."

On the weekend before October 1 Bassa's department received numerous calls for directors of civic centres that would be used as polling stations, expressing concern about whether the many activities that were taking place in them would have insurance cover. Her department assumed responsibility but never signed any document: "It was so that they would have peace of mind."

She claims her department did not spend a cent on the referendum after it was suspended by the Constitutional Court on September 7 and denies that a document from private mail firm Unipost that is tabled by the prosection is an invoice.

Bassa denies that the referendum was conceived as the final act of the independence process: "We were clear that if many people came out to vote it would help us in the negotiating process.

In answers to her counsel, Mariano Bergés:

• No calls for volunteers for the referendum were made from her department: "The calls were made from the social bodies [ANC and Òmnium Cultural]."

• The October 3 strike was legal and her department did not challenge it: "The strike was about industrial issues."

Testimony of Meritxell Borràs (Sources: Ara, 3/24)

Borràs agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of her defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

Borràs: "In recent years the Constitutional Court has become politicised and it seemed to me that we had to be faithful to the democratic mandate of the majority of citizens of Catalonia."

On spending in her department: "We kept spending weekly reports on our spending to the Generalitat and the Spanish government [...] Not a euro was spent on the referendum."

On the declaration of independence: "A political statement with no consequences in law."

On the responsibility of her department for running elections and referenda: "This passed to the Department of the Vice-President in July 2017." At that point any preparations, like buying ballot boxes, stopped.

Testimony of Carles Mundó (Sources: Ara, 3/24, Foreign Friends of Catalonia)

Mundó agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

Mundó says he had no knowledge of the diary of Josep Maria Jové in which he is named as being in meetings to plan the referendum.

Mundó says he had no knowledge of the document 'Enfocats' until it appeared in the media, and that it seemed to him to be "bizarre".

On the calling of the referendum: "Signing the referendum decree was an extraordinary fact and it was done in public to stress the political character of the moment. That everyone signed neither added nor subtracted legal value."

On his reaction to the prohibition of the referendum by the Constitutional Court: "The important things was not having signed the decree but what was done or not done from then on [...] not doing anything that I was prohibited from doing."

On the "invoice" to the government of the private mail provide Unipost: "No matter how many time we say it is an invoice does not turn it into an invoice."

Mundo: "The majority of Constitutional Court injunctions referred to the [Catalan] Parliament, where I was not an MP." He says he was in the Parliament when the independence declaration was made, but asks the prosecutor: "What does this have to do with the charge of embezzlement that I am facing?"

Note: By now it is 9.15pm and defence lawyer Jordi Pina calls on Marchena to end the session. Marchena says they may start later in the following morning.

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February 19 | Day 4: Testimony of Jordi Turull and Raül Romeva (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

 

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For an English-language summary of Day 4 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 4 summary

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Testimony of Jordi Turull (Sources: Ara, 3/24, Foreign Friends of Catalonia)

Turull agrees to answer the questions of the Prosecutor-General and the Solicitor-General, as well as those of his defence counsel, but not those of the popular prosecution Vox.

He begins by criticising presiding judge Manuel Marchena's decision not to allow simultaneous translation from Catalan into Spanish:  "There’s nothing new about it" [...] You shouldn’t see the cost of buying headphones for the public in the courtroom as an expense, but rather as an investment".

Combining technical defence with political argumentation in a four-hour interrogation, the former Minister of the Presidency defends the peaceful character of the independence movement when asked by the prosecutor if a climate of "violence" prevailed after September 20. "Not in the least", Turull declares, before describing any attempt by a political party to "suggest that to achieve its goal, violence is needed, even passively" as "doomed to failure". He adds that "no matter what stories you might want to invent, no matter how much Catalan society is portrayed as violent, such an argument holds no water, as well as being outrageous.”

The sparring between Turull and the prosecutor is persistent.  Unlike last week, judge Marena is forced to intervene on several occasions, not to shield accused from prosecutor, but to ask Turull "not to use the cross-examination as an excuse to give value judgments". The former minister is defiant when the prosecutor asks if he is a member of Òmnium Cultural, reminding him that membership of the Catalan language and culture association wasn’t a crime even during the Franco era. He is "astonished" by the question and goes on to list a number of social and humanitarian organizations of which he is also a member.

In reference to endless attempts to negotiate a referendum with the Spanish state Turull says: "The word ‘surrender’ doesn’t exist in the Catalan dictionary."

"The people of Catalonia aren’t like lambs, they aren’t militarised: whether or not they support independence, they think for themselves." This is Turull’s reply to the prosecution’s attempt to portray the independence movement as run from above rather than organised from the bottom up. He  insists that the people themselves compelled the political parties to hold the referendum and also points out that the pro-independence groups "always opted for dialogue with the [Spanish] State".

Turull describes the National Pact for the Referendum, which was initiated in Decemebr 2016 and sought a referendum in agreement with the Spanish government, as "an agreement between 4000 associations". Asked whether the intention was to increase the "level of conflict", as argued in the strategic document 'Enfocats' [found by the Civil Guard in the home of the secretary of the Catalan Department of Economy Josep Maria Jové], Turull declares himself to have no knowledge of it. He asks how the intention could be to seek "conflict" if 4000 associations had united to find a peaceful solution with the Spanish government.

Regarding possible "doubts as to whose orders the Catalan police would follow", Turull emphasises that ex-president Carles Puigdemont "always insisted" that the Catalan police would comply with their duties as legal police.

On the October 27 declaration of independence Turull, unlike former Interior Minister, Joaquim Forn, argues that it was voted on in full. He does not go so far as to say that it was put into effect, but insists that it was a "political statement".

Turull tries to distance himself from prosecution accusations of disobedience of Constitutional Court rulings by declaring that the Spanish government itself has failed to respect sentences by the Constitutional Court "on 25 occasions, and without receiving a reprimand or legal sanction [...] Being a constitutionalist must be really easy, since it allows you to disobey the Constitution whenever you think fit."

Turull says: "I’ve spent a year in prison as the result of a court order for acts which don’t constitute a criminal offense [organising a referendum is not illegal], and then they say we aren’t on trial for our ideas".

With reference to the charge of embezzlement, Turull insists that "not one cent of public money was spent on the referendum". When prosecutor Moreno shows him the Catalan government document in which the ministers agree "jointly and collectively" to be held responsible for all actions aimed at making the October 1 vote possible, including "purchasing" financial commitments, Turull responds that there is no "factual evidence" which shows that the plans went ahead.

He stresses that at the time the referendum law had not yet been suspended by the Constitutional Court. "And what about all the previous resolutions?", the prosecutor asks (in reference to the commission to study the constituent process and other resolutions). Turull: "They had nothing to do with the referendum."

Turull also denies that his government had the intention of paying for referendum advertising campaigns as well as alleged contracts with private mail firm Unipost. "The invoices haven’t been paid and nor will they be, since the campaign was free". For the first time Turull declares that the TV ads for the referendum were not an official campaign, because neither he nor Carles Puigdemont liked what was originally planned: it was not sufficiently "neutral" as it featured a "bird in a cage".

After the cross examination by the Solicitor-General  Turull's councel, Jordi Pina,  reads out a series of Turull’s tweets in which the former minister calls on people to behave “in a civic-minded way”, "peacefully" and "calmly".

Turull finishes by reading the words of former President Puigdemont before the declaration of independence, where he once more called for dialogue with the Spanish government. He again stresses that their guiding principles were "always invoking peace" and "civility".

Testimony of Raül Romeva's (Sources: Ara, 3/24, Foreign Friends of Catalonia)

Former Member of the European Parliament and Catalan Foreign Minister Romeva exercises his right not to answer the questions of the prosecution and only answers the questions of his counsel, Andreu Van den Eynde, on the grounds that he is a political prisoners. As a result his testimony lasts an hour and a half compared with Turull's four-hour stint.

Van den Eynde asks Romeva to outline his professional and political background. The ERC MP in the Catalan Parliament speaks of his political opinions. "Every time I have stood for election, both with ICV [Initiative for Catalonia-Greens]  in the European Parliament and with JxSí (Together for the Yes) and the ERC Republican Left of Catalonia, Romeva’s current party], the election manifestos have always declared the right of self-determination to be a legitimate and legal goal."

"There is no European treaty which prohibits the exercise of the right of self-determination. It does not exist".

Citing various articles of the Spanish Constitution, Romeva defends that the right to self-determination can be exercised within it if the "political will" exists and if "democratic principles" are respected alongside the "principle of legality". Romeva: "We understand that this demand is perfectly compatible with respect for the Constitution. The rule of law cannot be superimposed on the principle of democratic legitimacy."

Romeva argues that the Catalan government has always used methods based on "civility, pacifism, responsibility, harmony, non-discrimination, dialogue and negotiation". He insists that at no point was there ever any "incitement to violence", including during the demonstrations outside Barcelona’s Ministry of Economy on September 20, 2017.

Romevea: "A demonstration can’t be considered an uprising and a protest isn’t a mob. And holding an opinion isn’t a crime. I saw a demonstration that day. [...] "The only weapons were carried by the Civil Guard officers."

Romeva focusses part of his testimony on the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including Diplocat, the public diplomacy council. He explains that the council conducts public diplomacy and the range of institutions, governmental, educational and business-based, that support it.

Romeva declares that as Catalan Minister of Foreign Affairs he abided scrupulously by the three constitutional restrictions on the work of diplomatic representation of Spain's autonomous communities: "The Catalan government isn’t allowed to act as a representative of the State abroad, it is not allowed to sign international treaties which affect the State and it is not allowed to conduct consular activities. I’d like see if someone can tell me when my department did any of these three things."

What, asks Van den Eynde, was the significance of the declaration of independence of October 27? Romeva: "On 27 October we voted on a resolution to declare independence, taking into account the mandate which emerged from the elections on the September 27, 2015. At that point we reiterated the need to start negotiations to implement the political mandate. The political declaration gave us a political mandate to start a multilateral process."

Romeva adds that he had not gone into exile because everything he had done was "lawful and legal".

In conclusion, Romeva denounces that "those who are supposed to have engaged in politics failed to do so, passing the responsibility to a court of law. I humbly ask you not to take on that responsibility, but instead to return it to the sphere it should never have left, that of politics."

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February 18 | Court not sitting

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International actions and reactions: update 2

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• (El Nacional) Ripples from Catalan trial felt in European and Mexico City protests

• (El Nacional) Spain's foreign ministry creates a "rapid action cell" to save its "reputation"

• (El Nacional) European Parliament suspends exhibition on the Catalan language and  this tweet by Liz Castro

• February 18 Brussels conference of Quim Torra and Carles Puigdemont (below, in English). The conference starts at 7.08 minutes into the clip

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The position of the CUP on the trial of the Catalan 12 can be found here.

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Backgrounder (El Nacional)

Judge Manuel Marchena's balancing act, with one eye on European justice

Manuel Marchena is the presiding judge in the Catalan independence trial. 

With all eyes gazing intensely at the trial, the judge wears an attentive expression and wants to be impeccable. He wants to be the justest of justices. Later, in the verdicts, we'll see how forceful he can be. But now, in front of the cameras, Marchena is a proactive judge who isn't letting the prosecutors get away with anything, and has shown some permissiveness to the prisoners.

He has let the defence lawyers have twice as much time to make their points as they are allowed, according to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) - the court whose presence hangs permanently over this courtroom. He has let family members enter the Supreme Court room where the accused are held during recesses. He has let the accused wear yellow ribbons. And when he ruled on this issue he had all the jurisprudence prepared and studied.

He did not cut off the political discourse of Oriol Junqueras, even though he had warned he didn't want political meetings. Indeed, the seven judges who are hearing the independence leaders' case remained silent and unfazed, and at no time interrupted the former Catalan vice-president, but rather, simply listened attentively, without making notes of any kind.

Marchena has allowed the prisoners to sit alongside their lawyers. Although it will have to be behind them, since the number of defence lawyers is so large, they won't all fit right beside their clients.

What he has said no to is simultaneous translation, alleging technical reasons. In fact, he said there couldn't be headphones for everyone. And it's true that in a 200-year-old courtroom it is difficult to adapt to such things. The translators, two women who share space with the media during the day, have admitted that a trial with consecutive translation was not the best and understood that none of the accused would make use of it.

Manuel Marchena was especially severe with the public prosecutor and the state solicitor:

State solicitor Rosa María Seoane is instructed to move on to another question by judge Marchena

And also with the private prosecution led by Vox, of course. And strict he will have to be, because Vox's status as a political party - combined with the calling of a Spanish general election - further complicates the role of this private prosecution and of Manuel Marchena himself, who has to act as referee.

Even the public was told off:

An ironic response from the defendant, former Catalan minister Quim Forn, provoked laughter from the public on day three of the trial. Judge Marchena clamped down immediately, making it clear that no responses, positive or negative, from the public would be tolerated.

 

Marchena does not want problems. He wants to appear fair and strict. Impeccable. To avoid errors in the conduct of the trial and other possibly-deadlier sins, should the case end up, as seems most probable, before the European Court of Human Rights.

Manuel Marchena, it should be noted, has already once before had to face close examination from the ECHR. For the Garzón case: that is, Baltasar Garzón, the high-profile Spanish judge who in 2012 was convicted, and disqualified as a judge, for irregularities in his investigation of the huge Gürtel corruption case. There were in fact three cases against Garzón, and Marchena took part in them all. Garzón then appealed against the investigations and sentences of Marchena, his judicial executioner.

Marchena, the chameleon

Marchena entered the judiciary as a prosecutor and in 2007 was designated by Spain's General Council of the Judiciary as a Supreme Court judge. From 2012 on, his rise was meteoric.

The thing is, this judge was the figure who both of the established Spanish political parties, PSOE and PP, wanted as president of the Supreme Court and of the General Council of the Judiciary, and they did not hide their desires.

Last November's infamous leak of a Whatsapp message from PP senator Ignacio Cosidó, explaining that through Marchena, "controlling the Supreme Court's Criminal court from behind the scenes", the PP could control the Catalan trial, put an end to the hopes of appointing a new chameleonic president to the General Council of the Judiciary, who had curried favour with both PSOE and PP governments.

The Whatsapp leak also made very clear the politicization that exists in the choice of Spain's top judicial figure, who in theory has to be chosen by the other members of the new judicial council - members that haven't even been chosen yet.

The scandal led to Manuel Marchena's decision, in the middle of the controversy, to renounce the possibility of filling either of the two key judicial presidencies, and instead to remain where he was - as president of the criminal branch of the Supreme Court, and thus able to preside over the current Catalan independence trial.

The doubts about the judicial independence of Marchena thus fall like shadows over the grand courtroom where the trial is taking place. So the judge is anxious to be as scrupulous as possible in all his deeds and words. The world is watching. And the European Court of Human Rights, likewise.

Translation: El Nacional

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Week ending February 17

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February 17 | Court not sitting

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Latest Spanish opinion poll (done before announcement of the April 28 election)

The main trends are:

• Neither the parties of the all-Spanish left (PSOE plus Unidos Podemos) nor of the all-Spanish right (PP plus Citizens plus Vox) have a majority (176 seats), but the right is closer to a majority than the left

• The winners are the PSOE (largely from Unidos Podemos) and Vox (largely from the PP) and ERC (largely from PDECat)

See chart below for how those interviewed would change their vote at this general election compared to the last one in June 2016. "Indefinido" is undecided

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February 16 | Court not sitting

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Massive Barcelona demonstration in support of the Catalan political prisoners and exiles

Coverage in English:

• (El Nacional) A mile and a half of "human wall" as Catalans protest against leaders' trial

• (Vilaweb) Hundreds of thousands march in Barcelona against Catalan referendum trial

Other news

• (El Nacional) Citizens MPs stage provocation in Puigdemont's home town

• (El Nacional) European Parliament deputy speaker explains how speaker Tajani buckled to Spanish pressure

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February 15 | Court not sitting

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Spain's PSOE prime minister Pedron Sánchez announces an early general election for April 28

Coverage in English:

• (El País) Spanish prime minister calls snap general election for April 28

• (El Nacional) Official: Spanish PM Sánchez calls snap election for 28th April

• (El País) As a general election is called, which policies will have to be shelved?

Other news

• (El Nacional) European Parliament blocks event with Puigdemont and Torra under pressure from Spain

• (El Nacional) European Parliament speaker Tajani got an award from Catalan Civil Society

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February 14 | Day 3: Rulings by chief judge Marchena and statements of Oriol Junqueras and Joaquim Forn (Catalan public media coverage in English here and here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 3 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 3 summary

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Rulings by chief judge Marchena

• The court will not rule on defence accusations of violation of the rights of the defendants.

• The defendants may give their evidence in Catalan, but without simultaneous translation because the court lacks the technical capacity.

• The request for provisional release of the defendants is denied.

• The defendants may sit behind their defence counsel.

• Video evidence proferred by defence counsel with regard to violence on October 1 is accepted.

• Puigdemont cannot be both defendant and witness in the trial: "Let's be serious".

• Former PP interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido is accepted as a witness.

• "The court will only accept questions about facts. It will not accept questions with regards to ideas or beliefs". [This with regard to the complaint of the defence that Civil Guard head David Baena operated in his own time as a social network troll under the pseudonym of Tácito.]

The session ends with a clash between Jordi Pena, counsel for Sànchez, Turull and Rull, over Marchena's rulings against accepting certain evidence. Marchena: "This court will not allow delaying tactics."

Testimony of Oriol Junqueras

Junqueras exercises his right not to answer the questions of the prosecution and only answers the questions of his counsel, Andreu Van den Eynde.

He regrets the lack of simultaneous translation from Catalan, but appreciates the opportunity to speak in Castilian (Spanish) to Spanish society as a whole. He regards himself as a political prisoner and the victim of a political trial. The major points of his testimony are as follows:

• "From my point of view nothing we have done is criminal. Absolutely nothing! It is obvious that the argumentation of the prosecutions does not hold up [...] Calling a referendum is not a crime. Voting is not a crime. Stopping it by force is."

• "The Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) has always worked for individual and collective freedoms and defends independence for Catalonia to achieve a fairer society" and "without one case of corruption in 88 years".

• "Nobody can doubt that we have always rejected violence because any noble political goal can be immoral if the means used to achieve it are indecent [...] [On October 1] the calls for non-violence were constant, continuous and explicit."

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Tweet of the day

Here at the Supreme Court there's an interesting debate between defence lawyers and prosecutors about the right to self-determination. In the Congress and the Moncloa [prime minister's residence and seat of government] all they can talk about is legality. Very symptomatic of the confusion of powers.

--Former Catalan minister Jordi Turull

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Junqueras explains that the rise of independence sentiment in Catalonia begins with the campaign by the PP against the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, adopted by the Catalan and Spanish parliaments and by referendum in Catalonia. The decision of the Constitutional Court on the Statute [in 2010] "devastated" it, especially where clauses that also appeared in the statutes of other regions were unilaterally changed by the court. The persistent and sustained rise of pro-independence sentiment requires negotiations with the Spanish State over a referendum, but any such negotiation was always rejected. The Advisory Council for the National Transition, which produced various "road maps" for Catalan independence and which is cited by the prosecution as proof of a secessionist conspiracy, does not cover the position of the ERC, which is for basing the struggle for independence on the 80% of the Catalan population that supports Catalonia's right to decide its future. More quotes:

• "The proposal for a refendum is supported by a majority and consistently through time, but the chair on the other side [of the negotiating table] is always empty." [...] "This situation is not resolved by putting people in jail."

• "Convinced that the ballot box formed part of the solution, and given that there was no-one on the other side of the table, we called the 2017 elections with a united pro-independence ticket [Together for the Yes (Junts pel Sí)]."

• "[At the demonstration before the Catalan Department of Economy on September 20, 2017] the people had a peaceful, respectful attitude, they distributed carnations, they sang the Virolai, a religious hymn which in one of its verses refers to the Mother of God of Montserrat as the morning star of the Spanish--nothing liable to being called riotous."

• "The taxpayers made no contribution at all to the cost of the referendum. It's not just me saying it: everyone says it."

• "I saw the violence with which several members of the Civil Guard and the National Police behaved. It is obvious, it was seen on all the TV sets in the world how the people who were simply waiting outside the doors of a location or inside it were beaten, and how material prohibited by law was used, such as rubber bullets. There was unjustifiable and unnecessary violence, which contravened the legal order that required a measured and proportionate use of force."

• "The result of October 1 was overwhelmingly in favour of independence and we maintained our commitment to dialogue with the Spanish government."

• "The best way to have a good relation between Spain and Catalonia is to treat each other as equals."

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February 13 | Day 2: Presentation of prosecution arguments (Catalan public media coverage in English here, here and here)

 

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For an English-language summary of Day 2 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 2 summary

Lead prosecutor Javier Zaragoza dedicates most of his intervention to answering the defence counsels' argument that the trial represented a violation of fundamental human rights. Defence counsel arguments are aimed at creating a "distorted vision of reality" in order to "smear the reputation" of Spanish institutions and "put into question the democratic quality of a law-governed state". Some key quotes:

• "In Catalonia Spanish court sentences and provisional rulings have been systematically flouted since [the participatory process of] November 9, 2014."

• "[In the writing of the defence] it is stated that this will be test of democracy and of the capacity of democracy to tolerate political difference and peaceful citizen protest. That is not true. None of the accused is being prosecuted for their ideas, but for their deeds [...] Support for independence is not being judged, but the very serious events that took place in September and October last year."

• "This is not a trial against democracy, it's a trial in defence of Spanish democracy and the constitutional order."

• "The accused used illegal and even violent means to break down legal order [...] The accused called on citizens to construct human walls [and] unleash confrontation and a violent clash with the police."

• "The accused used public funds for an illegal process."

• "The violent events of October 1 should not be attributed to the forces of the State, but to those who mobilised thousands of citizens. [...] There was a legitimate and proportionate use of force by the police [...] there were only two serious injuries: one person suffered a heart attack and another was hit in the eye by a rubber bullet after throwing a barricade at the police

The trial itself is perfectly legitimate and meets all legal standards: it can be held in the Spanish Supreme Court [and not the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC)] because some of the offences committed took place outside of Catalonia; all complaints of partiality have been over-ruled [by the Supreme Court full bench and/or the Constitutional Court]; the public declaration of 120 law professors against the partiality of the trial process was "not by the most prestigious"; derisive comments by instructing judge Pablo Llarena "have been taken out of context"; and the Regional High Court of Schleswig-Holstein in deciding not to extradite Carles Puigdemont on the grounds of rebellion "acted by failing to fulfil what the European framework establishes [...] it was interference in the jurisdiction of Spanish courts".

Zaragoza insists that the UN Decaration on Political and Civil Rights in support of the right to national self-determination, to which Spain is signatory, does not apply in the case of Catalonia: none of the nations "surrounding us" support it; it applies to countries in a state of "domination"; and it does not apply to countries with a high degree of regional government.

Zaragoza concludes by stating that the defence's complaints about the lack of dialogue from the Spanish state and govement are self-interested: "Dialogue is doubtless the basis of democracy but always on the condition that it takes place in a constitutional framework. Enforced dialogue outside the the bounds of legality is not acceptable in a democratic society [...] It does not seem accidental that blaming the state for a supposed lack of desire to undertake dialogue operates as a factor leading to this unilateral process and this completed secession that, fortunately, was neutralised."

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Tweet of the day

First they involve the German police in a joint operation, then they flood the German court with documentation demanding extradition, afterwards when they are rejected, they withdraw the European warrant ... and now they say that it is Germany that is interfering in the Spanish jurisdiction.

— Carles Puigdemont

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Fidel Cadena, second speaker for the prosecution, insists that the right to self-detemination cannot be applied in the case of the Spanish State. Some quotations:

• "All means everyone and a part cannot decide about what belongs to everyone [...] Segovia [city in Castilla y León] does not just belong to the Segovians [...] and Catalonia doesn't just belong to the separatists."

• "There is no Catalan sovereignty, there is only Spanish sovereignty. Sovereignty of the Catalan people is not possible."

• "The Mossos d'Esquadra [Catalan police] were incorporated into plan for rebellion."

Cadena insists that the speakership panel of the Catalan parliament, headed by speaker Carme Forcadell, also acted to subvert the Spanish constitutional order when it did not block the discussion of bills that it knew were unconstitutional. He also justifies preventive detention on the grounds of the risk of repeat offence and of flight to Belgium, increased by the creation there of the Council for the Republic.

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International actions and reactions: update 1

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• February 13: Hywell Williams, Plaid Cymru MP in the UK parliament, raises a point of order in the House of Commons about the trial: "These peaceful people are political prisoners held against their human rights for believing in self-determination. " The Speaker, John Bercow, comments that he had met his Catalan counterpart Carme Forcadell and that "this Chamber respects freedom of expression".

• February 13: Spanish foreign affairs minister Josep Borrell calls for a campaign of opposition to "the black legend of Spain" that the Catalan independence movement is mounting.

• February 13: (El Nacional) Iceland has become the first foreign country to publicly communicate its concern to Spain over the trial of pro-independence Catalan leaders. The country's foreign affairs minister, Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, has "repeatedly" expressed their unease to Spanish authorities, he has told the newspaper Fréttablaðið.

"We have repeatedly expressed our concern to the Spanish authorities, most recently in January when the Icelandic ambassador to Spain attended a regular meeting at the Spanish foreign ministry. Catalan issues have also been repeatedly addressed with Spain's ambassador to Iceland, ”says Gudlaugur Thor.

The Icelandic government calls for them to look for a negotiated solution with full respect for human rights. "We will continue to monitor events closely and consult with our main international partners. I myself took up the question of Catalonia with Spain's then foreign minister last year when we met at the UN Human Rights Council, and the conversation has been continued by officials," he adds.

• February 11: Spanish ambassador to the United States Santiago Cabanas holds meeting with US media and distributes the documents "12 Lies about Spain ... and the Facts".

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The intervention of Rosa María Soane, from the Solicitor-General's Office is dedicated to vindicating the correctness of the trial's procedures: "There was a desire to imply that behaviour and attitudes that have to do with basic rights have been criminalised, criminalising freedom of ideology and political belief, the exercise of freedom of expression, of the right to demonstrate, to assembly, of the right to protest [...] Nothing could be further from reality. We find ourselves in this courtroom because actions have taken place that permit us to classify them as of a criminal type. This is a criminal trial with all legal guarantees in place."

Soane asserts that there is no absolute right to double instance. She also rejects the appeal of counsel defending Jordi Cuixart, to the effect that he cannot be charged with embezzlement of public funds because he is not a public employee [the Solicitor-General's Office dropped the charge of rebellion against Cuixart but added that of embezzlement]. She defends the right of the office to amend charges in the light of new evidence.

Soane also accuses the defence of imputing partiality and lack of due process to the trial proceedings in order to artifically create grounds for an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR): "Once again, out of eagerness to internationalise this cause, we find ourselves before a kind of creative community law in accordance with which we are aiming to bring before the ECHR questions to do with strictly internal judicial procedures."

She also rejects the argument that statements by opponents of the Catalan leaders to the effect that they are already guilty prejudices their chance of a fair trial, and that the ECHR had found this to be so in other cases of public notoriety. Also, the fact that evidence uncovered by the search warrants of the former judge of Barcelona's Court Number 13 had not been presented in that court--and hence could have bene questioned by defence as to its admissability--is irrelevant. All such evidence, and its authors, can be questioned by defence counsel here.

Pedro Fernández, leading for Vox, asks presiding judge Marchena to order the removal of the yellow ribbon being warn by Jordi Sànchez: "These sort of symbols have to be removed from a courtroom context on the principle of respect and consideration for the operation of the law."

Marchena, who seems to have known that the request was coming, answers with a ruling based on ECHR ruling overturning bans by national courts on participants in trials who are not lawyers or judges wearing religious symbols. "It is not a question of religious symbols, but the court interprets that it is an ideological symbol and as a result will not put any obstacle in the way of the accused wearing the symbol, given that one of the accused is wearing it."

Fernández on the events of September-October 2017: "We are talking about an uprising. No violation of basic rights was involved [...] Freedom of expression is subject to limits imposed by territorial integrity. Any attempt against the territorial integrity of a nation is incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations."

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• (El Nacional) Jordi Turull: Morning of February 12--getting ready for the trial

• (Ara) European Democratic Lawyers Association calls for immediate release of political prisoner

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Other events

• The budget of the Spanish PSOE government is defeated in the Congress on the vote against of the Catalan parties, ERC and PDECat, raising the prospect of early elections in the Spanish State.

• According to the Catalan government's Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO), 70.3% of Catalans regard the imprisonment and exile of Catalan leaders as unjust.

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February 12 | Day 1: The trial begins (Catalan public media in English coverage here and here)

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For an English-language summary of Day 1 go to:

• Catalan Trial: Day 1 summary

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Day One: Presentation of defence counsel arguments

Defence lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde opens the trial claiming that it violates nearly all fundamental rights, including the right to a fair trial, and that important defence witnesses, such as the Catalan Ombudsman, and evidence have been arbitrarily excluded by the presiding judges. He describes the pre-trial procedure, gathering of evidence and operation of the Prosecutor-General's Office as "vaudeville" and states that the Spanish-patriotic media had found the defendants guilty before the trial started. He calls on the judges to abandon the trial and return the problem of Catalonia's relation to the Spanish State to the political sphere, as the Canadian High Court did with Quebec.

Key comments by Van den Eynde:

•  "There is no international or European Union law that prohibits the secession of an entity that is part of a state. [...] Self-determination is synonymous with peace, not war."

•  "The case represents an attack on political dissidence."

• "The presumption of innocence of the accused has been violated and their suspension as MPs or the fact that they were prevented from standing for elected position makes them the equivalent of terrorists."

• "The case opened by [Barcelona court number] 13 is a violation of rights to make one blush with shame [...] It represented an open-ended search for suspects because it was broadened to include the charges of rebellion and sedition without providing any substantiation."

• "The court will have to explain why it has restricted all fundamental rights in this case, even the freedom of religion, because Oriol Junqueras couldn't even go to [prison] mass."

According to Jordi Pina, counsel for Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, the defendants have suffered "loss of the right to effective legal care". Proofs of this are:

• The assignment of the case to the Supreme Court itself, instead of to the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). This has denied the defendants the right of appeal to a higher court (right of "double instance"). Pina points out that chief judge Marchena had himself ruled in favour of double instance in the case of the trial of the Catalan politicians for allowing the "participatory process" of November 9, 2014.

• The revealed partiality of the presiding judges, shown in the description in the court's decisions in relation to appeals in the case: "There is a phrase in two decisions made by the judge arraigning the case in which the phrase 'the stategy that we're suffering from' is used. That is not a mistake but the expression of someone who is writing what he or she feels [...] It is common sense, when a magistrate uses the first person plural to refer to events that are under investigation, that it is reasonable for those who are being investigated to have doubts about his or her impartiality."

• The participation in the hearing of a judge,  Francisco Monterde, whose professional association, the conservative Professional Association of the Magistracy, had been issuing regular tweets against what it called "a secessionist plot".

• The fact that four of the judges were involved in pre-trial decisions about appeals for release of the defendants from preventive detention, which required them to make a judgment as to the charges of rebellion and sedition.

• The Whatapps message of PP Senate leader claiming that "we're controlling the trial via the back door" and the letter from chief justice Carlos Lesmes, congratulating Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer, the investigating magistrate of Barcelona Court Number 13, for his "patriotism" in issuing search warrants--unable to be challenged legally--that empowered the Civil Guard and the Spanish National Police to hunt down evidence for the trial.

• The fact that the various defence counsel still had not got access to all the material the prosecution was using as the basis for its case, violating a basic, universally recognised , legal norm.

• The impounding for four days by the administration of Soto de Real prison of the laptops of the accused.

• The refusal to accept evidence for the defence. He offers the court a pen drive of images and videos of October 1, to enable it to decide where responsibility lies for the violence of the day. He also re-offers media coverage, refused as evidence by the court, of the pacifist consictions of Jordi Sànchez.

• The refusal of the court to summon King Philip VI, author of an October 3, 2017 address to the Spanish nation against the Catalan process, as a witness.

• The refusal of the court to accept former Catalan president Carles Puigdemonst as a witness.

Pina also complains about the refusal of the court to provide simultaneous translation into Catalan.

He concludes that the dropping by instructing judge Pablo Llarena of arrest warrants for all those Catalan politicians in exile confirms that doubts about the validity of the case exist in the Supreme Court. He concludes: "Behave as judges, not saviours of the Fatherland."

Benet Salellas, counsel for Jordi Cuixart, demands that all charges that violate basic recognised human rights be dropped: "If basic human rights are on trial, the message to the citizens is that it is dangerous to exercise them."  He asserts that there is a recognised right to national self-determination, but no recognised right to preserve national unity.

The whole trial has been designed to "get the enemy" of the Spanish State and this has led to innumerable breaches of due process, and to illegal behaviour by the Civil Guard. "A good part of the searches of September 20 were done without legal warrant". What warrants had been issued were violated. For example, the Civil Guard had a warrant to search four offices in the Catalan Department of Economy on September 20, but spent 22 hours searching the whole building. The prosecution case also details all injuries suffered by Civil Guards and Police on October 1, but asserts that injuries suffered by those defending the polling stations were "manipulated".

Salellas concludes: "This entire penal process runs counter to the very essence of a democratic, law-governed state and represents a collective setback for the democratic Spanish state."

Olga Arderiu, counsel for Carme Forcadell, former speaker of the Catalan parliament, also denounces that she has not had access to all the material being used by the prosecutions as the basis for their case. She  stresses that the functions exercised by Carme Forcadell as speaker of the Catalan parliament were those that any speaker would have had to carry out, and that the trial violates parliamentary immunity. "The votes of the Chamber have to be protected." The defendants are being treated as if they had already been found guilty, she adds, referring to the gloating of former Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría to the effect that, after the Supreme Court had ruled in favour of preventive detention, "we've chopped off the independence movement".

Arderiu also questions why Forcadell is being tried by the Supreme Court while the rest of the speakership panel will be tried by the TSCJ. "We wouldn't like to think that they are not being tried by the Supreme Court to avoid the sight of their being only tried for disobedience while Forcadell is accused of rebellion [...] If Forcadell's actual behavior is identical, she is being tried for her position and her political convictions. And that is discriminatory behaviour."

Mariano Bergés, counsel for Dolors Bassa, stresses that much of the defence evidence has been ruled inadmissable at the same time as the legal police had exceeded their function, not just locating evidence that had been asked for by the examining magistrate but deciding themselves whether material was evidence or not. As for the charge of rebellion, "Violence is violence and not something else. [...] What took place in Catalonia was not rebellion. It is not rebellion to come together to protest against the constitutional order."

Bergés also attacked Bassa's preventive detention. "None of her personal circumstances changed, she didn't try to flee. When she was summonsed to appear the first time she was in Belgium and returned. And afterwards, when they summonsed her again, having already been released, she returned again. She had fulfilled all the conditions [for release on bail], had attended all the summonses and nothing had changed in her behaviour."

Judith Gené, defending former minister of state Meritxell Borràs, against the charge of embezzlement of public funds, also complains about not being supplied with evidence being used by the prosecution: "We don't understand why we have been denied the evidence [...] copies of the injunctions to which the administration replied regarding the crime of embezzlement." 

February 12: Catalan president Quim Torra's comment on the trial (in English, starts at 36 minutes, 13 seconds)

February 12: Also a day of demonstrations against the trial

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• Guardian article on the trial by Carles Puigdemont

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Letter to Òmnium Cultural members from Soto de Real Jail

“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.”

― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Dearest members,

This Tuesday the Judgment of Democracy begins and the first thing I want to say is that we are more united and stronger than ever.

Last Friday, early in the morning, we were able to hug Carmen and Dolors: it was just for a few minutes, but you can imagine that it was an unforgettable moment. We made the journey together to Madrid, isolated in sealed compartments of just over one square metre. It was impossible to see each other, but we sent one other messages of courage and mutual support. We were also listening to your shouts and believe me when I say that you made us feel special.

Preventive detention brings with it a feeling of terrible helplessness, and the court that will judge us has vetoed the testimony of international experts and Nobel Peace Prize laureates. But all these injustices further strengthen our convictions. We will unmask the connivance of the powers of the State with the heirs of the Franco regime. Vox, the Prosecutor-General's Office and the Solicitor -General go hand in hand against the exercise of fundamental rights, which makes the trial and the sentences an exceptional opportunity for moving towards the Republic. Permanent mobilisation becomes absolutely essential.

We as prisoners do not represent the proclamation of any defeat, and against those who, full of fear, wave the flag of repression, neither hate nor rancour, but the opposite. They cry out because they are full of fear, but they can never silence the desire for dialogue. It is important that we do not leave anyone by the wayside, that all democrats in the State, in Europe and in the whole world also feel called upon to take a stand.

Our priority is not to get out of jail, but to resolve the political conflict. With a citizenry empowered as on October 1, 2017, I am convinced that this society will be what it decides to be. Our guides are exceptional people such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Thoreau, Hannah Arendt or Xirinacsⁱ himself, who, under much more adverse circumstances than ours, decided not to give up pursuing their dreams.

In the months that are to come, more generosity, empathy and sense of our State than ever. Let’s rediscover each other in our unity and let’s swear that, so long as the state does not respond to that 80% of Catalan society that wants to resolve the political conflict at the ballot box, we will have to keep exercising civil disobedience as often as necessary.

Health, tenderness and always forward!

Jordi Cuixart

President of Òmnium Cultural

Soto del Real, Prison

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Footnote

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Ferreres (Ara, February 11)

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Week ending February 10

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February 10

• A poll done for the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), with a 1500 sample, shows that 41-seat Barcelona Council, presently run by the minority Barcelona en Comú (BeC) government of mayoress Ada Colau, would be even more fragmented after the May council elections. The result: ERC 9 seats; BeC 8-9 seats; former French premier Manuel Valls platform (supported by Citizens) 8 seats; Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC, sister party to the PSOE) 6 seats; the platform led by jailed Catalan independence leader Joaquim Forn 5 seats; People's Unity Lists (CUP) 3 seats; Vox 2 seats. The PP would not win a seat.

• (El Nacional) Spanish right's Madrid march falls flat

• (El Nacional) "Stabbed in the back": Spanish right recycles infamous phrase from Germany's past

February 7

• (El Nacional) United protests against the Catalan independence trial announced

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Keeping up with Catalonia in English

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• For an hour-by-hour update follow independent Catalan journalist Josep Goded on Twitter.
• For a daily updates (Monday to Friday) watch the Catalan News Agency's Catalan News and Spain in English's daily trial summary
• For regularly updated news in English, go to the English-language sections of Ara, El Nacional, Vilaweb and El Punt Avui.
• For news in English from a generally Spanish-unionist viewpoint, go to the English-language section of El País, or the Spanish edition of The Local.
• For background articles and opinion pieces translated into English, check the daily Ara and Catalan News Monitor.
• For general news, sports, culture and opinion in English, check Catalonia Today.
• For both English-language original articles and translations of articles, opinion pieces and editorials, go to the Emma collective web site.
• Updates from the Catalan National Assembly's international office, in English and other languages.

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