Junquera remains behind bars

The Supreme Court did not disappoint those who had already anticipated its decision even before yesterday’s appeal hearing ruling that the Catalan vice -President Oriol Junqueras dismissed under Article 155 and leader of ERC should remain in preventative custody in Madrid’s Estremera prison, the most extreme measure that can befall a defendant before trial. Junqueras has been held in prison since November 2. The three magistrates of the Supreme Court of Appeals unanimously rejected Junqueras’ plea to be allowed to participate in political activities as an elected representative in the December 21 election and accept his commitment to resolve the conflict between Catalonia and Spain “through negotiations”. In a contradictory ruling that cites his involvement in “violence” on September 20 and October 1, the court admitted that the politician did not “personally execute” or the “order” such action, the court upheld the charges of the crime of rebellion, while maintaining that he can be termed a political prisoner and denied his freedom with the claim that “the right to political participation does not rule out the assumption nor the consequences of committing a crime.”

Delivering the ruling, the conservative magistrate Miguel Colmenero Menéndez de Luarca, disregarded every one of the arguments invoked by the prisoner and his lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde. The ruling also claimed that there was no evidence that the defendant would not “continue to execute the criminal acts with which he was imputed.”

From his cell yesterday, Junqueras Tweeted: “In these days to come, stay strong and united. Transform your indignation into courage and perseverance... Thank you for all your support.”