Pro-independence camp will only accept acquittals

As the negotiations over the budget draw near, so does the prosecutor’s accusation against the political leaders in pretrial detention. Yesterday, the issue began to appear in the media, with the Ser radio station reporting that the prosecutor will likely call for minimum sentences of 10 to 15 years in the cases of the political leaders charged with rebellion for organising last year’s independence referendum.

Yesterday, the Catalan parliament speaker, Roger Torrent, and the vice president, Pere Aragonès, were the first to react to the news on Twitter, where they said the only acceptable conclusion to the trial is acquittal. “Freedom, acquittal and self-determination,” wrote Aragonès.

Meanwhile, the PDeCAT party called on Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, for some gesture towards the prisoners before the talks over supporting the budget begin. The party coordinator, David Bonvehí, in an interview with the RAC1 radio station, said that any support for Sánchez from its eight MPs in the Spanish parliament would depend on the fate of the jailed political leaders.

As for Sánchez’s offer of a referendum on Catalonia’s self-government, the response from the pro-independence parties was blunt and unanimous: they will only accept a vote on self-determination.