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Catalan lawyers want legal system to enshrine Catalan

Only 8.2% of the sentences of 2017 were handed down in Catalan, a figure that has falling in recent years. In an attempt to reverse this trend, Catalan lawyers have demanded that judges and prosecutors who exercise in Catalonia at least understand the Catalan language. Beyond the willingness of professionals, lawyers want the legislation to change and that the knowledge of Catalan cease to be a condition of merit for judges, magistrates, prosecutors and court clerks and become a requirement. At present, only the non-judicial staff are required to speak and understand Catalan.

Over 100 people took part yesterday in Vic in the symposium The legal system and Catalan, which reflected on the role of the public prosecutor in promoting the use of Catalan. The president of the Catalan Advocacy Council, Julio Naveira, argued that it is essential that judges and prosecutors at least understand Catalan to guarantee the right of citizens to use any of the two co-official languages in Catalonia. As Catalan is considered to be simply of merit, citizens are at a disadvantage, said Naveira. Several lawyers complained that “many lawyers find that the prosecutor assigned to the case does not understand Catalan, so to avoid delays, they end up preparing the defence in Spanish.”

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