Further lawsuits against Forcadell and members of Parliament Bureau over referendum proposal

Article published by Catalan News Agency, 23rd February 2017

Photo:Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, together with the members of the Parliament’s Bureau (by ACN)

Barcelona (CNA).- The Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, and three members of the Parliament’s Bureau have been accused of disobedience and perversion of justice by Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor for allowing the proposal for a referendum to be put to vote. Actions have been brought against Anna Simó, Lluis Corominas and Ramona Barrufet, all them from governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’, but not against Joan Josep Nuet, from alternative left alliance ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’. Although he is also part of the Bureau, the Public Prosecutor considered that he didn’t aimed to launch any “political project which disrespects the Constitution of 1978” as the others did. Nuet supported the accused and stated that the decision is a “sloppy discrimination” which “proves the politicisation of justice” in the Spanish State.

According to the Public Prosecutor, Nuet “didn’t expect to encourage the constitutive process” but acted “driven by the erroneous belief that he was fulfilling his functions as member of the Parliament’s Bureau”. Moreover, the Prosecutor pointed out that Nuet’s vote, as he abstained from passing the proposal for a referendum, “wasn’t decisive” in the proposal proceeding. However, he voted the same way as the others did and supported the pro-independence roadmap so that it could be debated in the Chamber.

“I was fully aware of what I was doing, I wasn’t distracted”, explained Nuet and said that he considered the Prosecutor’s decision “a political lawsuit” aimed at “dividing democrats”. “We are all in the same ship and we are all rowing in the same direction; they will not divide democrats, nor those who support a referendum either”, he added.

Action to be added to Forcadell’s prosecution

This is the second lawsuit against Forcadell presented by the Public Prosecutor and is expected to be added to her prosecution for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July.

Indeed, Forcadell testified at Barcelona’s courthouse on the 16th of December and she could be fined and banned from public office for allegedly violating Spanish law by allowing a Parliamentary debate on the pro-independence roadmap.

Forcadell said that she considered her being brought before the Court “another step” towards the Spanish State’s attempt to “violate the separation of powers”. Therefore, she warned that what is at risk in her trial “is not the political future of a person” but “democracy itself”.