A LAWYER who represents the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has said the sentences have already been decided for the 12 accused in the trial over the independence referendum which is continuing in Spain’s Supreme Court.
And Jaume Alonso Cuevillas said the terms will be around half the length demanded by the public prosecutor.
In an interview with the Girona Diary, Cuevillas said: “They will not be found guilty of rebellion, but for conspiracy to rebellion. Sentences of between eight and 12 years in prison.”
The lawyer said that an appeal against the sentences would be lodged at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
However, he added that the process was resolved – in around six to eight years – Catalonia “will be a republic”.
Cuevillas added: “The judges are human and therefore imperfect, with their ‘philias and phobias’ and they make mistakes.
“But in this case, it goes much further, because it is politicised, with judges who are not impartial.”
The lawyer’s remarks came as Puigdemont yesterday returned to the German prison where he spent nearly two weeks last year to drop off a donation of books.
His visit to the prison in Neumuenster happened a year after he was arrested in Germany’s far north as he tried to drive from Finland to his base in Belgium.
A bid to extradite him to Spain, which he fled in 2017 after his government held an indyref that was ruled illegal, later collapsed.
German news agency dpa said Puigdemont brought a donation of 100 books by Catalan authors translated into German, saying he wanted to express gratitude for his treatment in prison. Puigdemont is bidding for a European Parliament seat in May’s elections.
Meanwhile, a cross-party group of more than 40 French senators have called for action from the European Union to ensure that fundamental human rights are respected in Catalonia.
The group from the upper house of the French parliament, condemned the repression of democratically-elected political representatives there and called for intervention by France and the EU, “to re-establish conditions for dialogue with the aim of finding political solutions to a political problem”.
Their text read: “Our country is a neighbour to Spain and its great region, Catalonia, with whom we share a long history.
“Both as Europeans and as Frenchmen and women we are concerned about the grave events that have taken place in Catalonia.”
Spain’s Electoral Board has forbidden the journalists of Barcelona Television, Beteve, to use the term “political prisoners” in their broadcasts relating to the trial, or on their website.
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