“TGUE”, www.vilaweb.cat
Written by Jordi Oriola Folch
On July 5, the General Court of the European Union (GC of the EU) has dismissed the appeal of the Catalan pro-independence politicians exiled in Belgium (the MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí) against the European Parliament’s request to extradite them to Spain. They have lost their immunity as MEPs.
Catalan pro-independence supporters had hoped to win the appeal because the Spanish state is “politically persecuting” the Catalan MPs. For example, the politicians who pushed for the reform of some Spanish laws publicly acknowledged that they did so in order to be able to extradite Puigdemont to Spain.
“Adrian Vazquez in the EU Parliament”, Video from Esmorzars Europeus
Then, there are also technical aspects to invalidate the supplication: Adrián Vázquez, from the Spanish anti-independence party Ciudadanos, had strategically placed himself as president of the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. And neither could the rapporteur of the supplication, the Bulgarian far-right Angel Dzhambazki, close to the Spanish far-right VOX party (which was part of the prosecution in the trial in Madrid that was at the origin of the conflict), be neutral. Both had made public proclamations against Puigdemont.
“Angel Dzhambazki in the EU Parliament”, Video from www.vilaweb.cat
But this defeat is not strange, because so far the independentistas have lost all claims in the General Court of the EU (GCEU, court dedicated to the rules of the institutions), but have won all cases in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU, court of higher rank, which is creating European jurisprudence). Now the Catalan MEPs will present an appeal to the CJEU, where they will presumably win.
The Catalan independence movement needs to win in Europe because, within Spain, the State plays dirty. For example, the guidelines of the Spanish secret services have two priority targets: Islamist terrorism and Catalan independence! How can they target a peaceful, democratic and non-criminal movement?
“Pro independence demonstration”, Princesa Rodríguez
Also on July 1, we discovered that Spain has put the Catalan and Basque independence movements on a Europol terrorist list as the “most active and violent” in the Spanish state. The director of the European police, Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, has confirmed in the European Parliament, that they give credibility to what the states tell them. They are aware that the Catalan independence movement has carried out 54 violent actions: placement of banners, illegal demonstrations, public disorder, railway blockades, damage to fascist monuments… Is that terrorism or freedom of expression? Catalan independentism has not caused any death, not even any wounded, unless we count the independentist wounded provoked by the Spanish police.
And speaking of terrorism, we do not tolerate that the Spanish Parliament refused to investigate the Islamist attack of August 17, 2017 in Barcelona, because there are some very obscure points: there were Spanish policemen behind the Islamist group that killed 15 people. The Catalan police acted very quickly and arrested the few remaining terrorists alive, so the Spanish state could not decree a state of emergency that would have prevented Catalonia from holding the October 1, 2017 referendum on self-determination.
“Catalan activist Òscar C. and undercover spanish police Maria I.T.”, https://directa.cat
Addressing this legitimate political project in a criminal framework has allowed to justify the illegal spying of independentistas with the Israeli software Pegasus, as well as the infiltration of police officers in peaceful independence movements. On July 14 we discovered the fourth case, the policewoman Maria I. T. who had been the partner of Òscar C., a prominent activist from Girona with whom she had been living for two years and with whom she participated in meetings of the lawyers in the trials of pro-independence activists.
We hope that the CJEU will corner Spain for so much police and judicial malpractice. Spain is a state that mistreats us and we do not want to be part of it at all. Next station: Independence!
