KEY ELEMENTS OF THE CASE I. THE ALLEGED CRIMES In the coming months the judges of the Spanish Supreme Court will have to decide whether the prosecution has been able to proof the existence of three charges brought against the defendants. REBELLION The crime of rebellion, one of the most serious in the Spanish Criminal Code, involves a “violent and public uprising“ and is punishable by imprisonment for up to 25 years. The only precedent for the crime of rebellion in modern Spain was the attempted coup d’état by Lieutenant-Colonel Tejero on 23rd February 1981, when armed forces stormed the Parliament and tanks were deployed in the streets. Article 472 Criminal Code* A conviction for the offence of rebellion shall be handed down to those who violently and publicly rise up for any of the following purposes: 1. To fully or partially repeal, suspend or amend the Constitution; 5. To declare the independence of any part of the national territory 7. To disaffect from obedience to the Government any armed force. * Excerpt of the part of the article relevant to this case. SEDITION Contrary to the position of the State’s Prosecutor Office, the Attorney General’s Office is charging some of the defendants with the crime of sedition, which involves a ‘public and tumultuous uprising’ and carries penalties of up to 15 years in prison Article 544 Penal Code Conviction for sedition shall befall those who, without being included in the felony of rebellion, public and tumultuously rise up to prevent, by force or outside the legal channels, application of the laws, or any authority, official corporation or public officer from lawful exercise of the duties thereof or implementation of the resolutions thereof, or of administrative or judicial resolutions. 1 CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY This offence was introduced to prosecute the activities of groups associated to commit serious illegal acts (e.g. terrorism or drug trafficking). The offense of criminal conspiracy exists from the very moment when there is a collaboration or participation in the criminal entity, regardless of whether this is able to execute the intended illegal acts. Article 570 bis Criminal Code Whoever promotes, constitutes, organises, co-ordinates or directs a criminal organisation shall be punished with a sentence of imprisonment from four to eight years, if it has the purpose or object of committing serious felonies (...). For the purposes of this Code, a criminal organisation is construed to be a stable group formed by one or more persons, for an indefinite term, in collusion and co-ordination to distribute diverse tasks or duties in order to commit felonies, as well as to carry out reiterated commission of misdemeanours. DISOBEDIENCE Charges of disobedience have been used in the Catalan context in recent years. In March 2017, former President Artur Mas and two of his Ministers were convicted of a crime of disobedience for their role in the non-binding referendum of 2014. Article 410 Criminal Code* 1.Authorities or civil servants who openly refuse to duly fulfil court resolutions, decisions or orders of a higher authority, handed down within the scope of their respective powers and complying with the legal formalities, shall be punished with a fine from three to twelve months and special barring from public employment and office. * Excerpt of the part of the article relevant to this case. EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS This crime is committed when those who have powers to administer public funds use them for private purposes, adversely affecting the assets managed. Article 432 Penal Code* 1.The authority or public officer who, for profit, steals or allows a third party, with the same intention, to steal public funds or property he has under his charge due to his duties, shall incur a sentence of imprisonment from three to six years and absolute barring for a term from six to ten years. * Excerpt of the part of the article relevant to this case. 2 II. THE PROSECUTION Three parties lead the prosecution against the defendants: STATE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE Led by the Chief State Prosecutor, appointed by the Government. As the primary institution charged with defending the law, it is the leading party in this trial. The previous State Prosecutor charged the defendants with rebellion, a charge that has not been altered by the changes of Prosecutor and Government. ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE The State Attorney General is appointed by the Council of Ministers, depends on the Ministry of Justice and represents the State at the trial. The Attorney General’s Office has not contested the key arguments of the case built by the prosecution although it charges the defendants with sedition and not rebellion. PEOPLE’S PROSECUTION (VOX) The Spanish Constitution recognises the right of citizens to stand in a trial regardless of their involvement in the events judged. In this case, there is one private prosecutor, the far-right organisation Vox, which asks for the harshest penalties for the defendants, adding criminal conspiracy to the charges of rebellion. III. THE DEFENDANTS The prosecution targets key figures of the Catalan executive and legislative powers, as well as civil society organisations. Nine of the defendants have spent over a year in pre-trial detention: six members of the Catalan Government, the President of the Catalan Parliament and two grassroots activists. Government of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras, Vice-President and Minister of the Economy STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Rebellion Sedition Rebellion Embezzlement of public Embezzlement of public Criminal conspiracy funds funds Embezzlement of public funds 25 years 12 years 74 years 3 Jordi Turull, Minister of the Presidency Joaquim Forn, Minister of Home Affairs Raül Romeva, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency Dolors Bassa, Minister for the Employment and Social and Family Affairs Josep Rull, Minister for the Territory and Sustainability STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Rebellion Sedition Rebellion Embezzlement of public Embezzlement of public Criminal conspiracy funds funds Embezzlement of public funds 16 years 11 years 74 years Meritxell Borràs, Minister for Governance Carles Mundó, Minister of Justice Santi Vila, Minister of Business and Knowledge STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Embezzlement of public Embezzlement of public Embezzlement of public funds funds funds Criminal conspiracy Disobedience Disobedience Disobedience 7 years 7 years 24 years € 30,000 Part of the same case but not on trial (accused in Spain although the initial European Arrest Warrants issued against them were eventually withdrawn) DEFENDANT CHARGES Carles Puigdemont, President of Catalonia Rebellion Toni Comín, Minister of Health Embezzlement of public funds Clara Ponsatí, Minister of Education Meritxell Serret, Minister for Agriculture Disobedience Lluís Puig, Minister of Culture Embezzlement of public funds 4 Parliament of Catalonia Carme Forcadell, President of the Parliament of Catalonia STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Rebellion Rebellion Sedition Criminal conspiracy 17 years 10 years 52 years Part of the same case but pending trial by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia Lluís Corominas, Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament Lluís Guinó, Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament Anna Simó, Secretary of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament Joan Josep Nuet, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament Ramona Barrufet, Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of the Catalan Parliament Mireia Boya, Chair of the CUP-CC Parliamentary Group STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Criminal conspiracy Disobedience Disobedience Disobedience 17 years 10 years 52 years Part of the same case but not on trial (accused in Spain although the initial European Arrest Warrants issued against them were eventually withdrawn) DEFENDANT CHARGES Marta Rovira, Spokesperson for the ERC Parliamentary Rebellion group Anna Gabriel, Spokesperson for the CUP-CC Parliamentary Disobedience group 5 Civil Society Organisations Jordi Cuixart, Chairman of Òmnium Cultural Jordi Sànchez, Chairman of the Catalan National Assembly STATE PROSECUTOR’S ATTORNEY GENERAL’S VOX OFFICE OFFICE Rebellion Rebellion Sedition Criminal conspiracy 17 years 8 years 52 years Sources: https://internationaltrialwatch.org/en/homepage https://www.ccma.cat/324/keys-catalan-independence-trial THE TRIAL THUS FAR The first session of the trial was devoted to preliminary issues and, thus, very much focused on the defences’ claims of violation of fundamental rights throughout the proceedings so far. The lawyers of the defendants claimed their clients’ right to an impartial trial was not being respected. The fact that some of the judges in the case had also been part in the previous phases of the proceedings would violate, according to the defence, their client’s right to an impartial, “not contaminated” judge. In the same vein, all defences protested they had not been given access to all the case documentation and recalled that the case has been built on the information gathered by a judge investigating a separate case and who, for more than a year and a half, did not concede that he had been investigating the 1st October Referendum. On a different yet related note, most defences spoke of the violation of the rights to ideological freedom, freedom of expression and the right of manifestation, and recalled that the Constitution prohibits the criminalisation of political dissent and stating that the actions of the defendants were always confined to "the political arena". Similar concerns were echoed in a statement by the International Commission of Jurists released on the same day. The defences questioned the impartiality of the investigation of the Civil Guard, but also the legitimacy of the public prosecutor's office, the popular accusation and the State Advocacy. The defences recalled that the Lieutenant who signed most of the reports of the case was posting harsh opinions on Twitter under a false identity while conducting his investigations.