Freedom in sight for jailed Catalans
NINE Catalan separatist leaders jailed for sedition were eyeing freedom after Spain’s Cabinet pardoned them in the hope of starting what Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a much-needed reconciliation in the country’s restive northeast.
“The government has taken the decision because it is the best decision for Catalonia and for Spain,” Mr Sanchez said in a short, nationally televised appearance.
“We hope to open a new era of dialogue and build new bridges.”
Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, who in 2019 got the heaviest sentence of 13 years in prison for sedition and misuse of public funds, will go free along with his associates after spending threeand-a-half years behind bars.
The other eight included the former Cabinet members of the Catalan government, the former Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, and two leaders of separatist civil society groups who had all received sentences ranging from nine to 12 years.
The pardons lifted the remaining years of their prison terms, while keeping intact their status as being unfit to hold public office.
It is not clear when they will be let out, but that would likely be in the coming days, or even hours.
The government said the pardons could be revoked if their beneficiaries try to lead another breakaway bid or commit a serious crime.
“These pardons do not depend on their recipients renouncing their ideas, and nor do we expect them to do so,” Mr Sanchez said.
“But these people were never put in prison for the ideas they hold, but rather for having violated the laws of our democracy.”
While Mr Junqueras has said that he will dedicate his efforts to securing an independence referendum that would be authorised by Madrid, none of the main separatist parties in Catalonia have budged from their goal of carving out a new state.
The pardons have been opposed by Spain’s right wing - as well as by many on the left - becoming a risky political gamble for Mr Sanchez, the Socialist leader.
But his minority left-wing coalition needs the Catalan legislators’ support to pass new budgets and significant laws. And the prime minister has insisted that a hardline approach and inaction by previous conservative administrations have not solved the deepening conflict.
Europe’s leading human rights body, the Council of Europe, backed the pardons in a resolution passed by its assembly late on Monday.
But the non-binding recommendations also chided Spain for curtailing the free speech of the Catalan politicians.