The devastating revelations from lawyer Magda Oranich about the pressure she has received from Laura Borràs, Together for Catalonia (Junts) president, over the report on party co-vice-president Francesc de Dalmases, far from closing the matter, highlight modes of action that are absolutely unacceptable. The report was drawn up on behalf of the executive committee of Junts and investigates the pressure which Dalmases put on the deputy director of TV3's current affairs programme FAQS, Mònica Hernàndez. Dalmases is not the first politician to use his position of strength with a media outlet, nor is he the first to behave unjustifiably with a journalist, but this cannot be used as an excuse for his party to hide its head in the sand. The Junts executive commission requested the report, the lawyer Oranich conducted it even moderating some of its conclusions and now president Carles Puigdemont's party must act in accordance with the things that it says and that the investigator has stated publicly.
Oranich, 77 years old and with around 50 years practicing as a lawyer, has a solid enough resume to not need anyone to come to her defence. I won't, although I will allow myself one biographical note: her beginnings as a lawyer for Salvador Puig Antich and member of the legal team of one of the last people executed by Franco, the ETA militant Jon Paredes Manot, "Txiki", in the summary council of war held on September 19th, 1975 are an excellent letter of introduction. From here, five decades as a human rights defender and lawyer in not dozens but hundreds of cases of women victims of gender violence and victims of abuse in Francoist orphanages. There is no need to continue, since her biography leaves her well protected from any free and interested criticism that might be made. The Oranich report is certainly explosive material and the disavowel of Dalmases's statement suspecting bias leaves the ball well and truly in the court of the party's general secretary, Jordi Turull.
In the five pages of the report it is stated specifically and several times that Oranich interviewed personally or spoke on the phone with around 20 people to find out what happened in the TV3 studios during the FAQS programme on July 9th; that she considers it proven that there were moments of great tension, especially an uncomfortable situation from many points of view, including that of employee rights; that Dalmases expressed his indignation at how the programme had gone and took the producer by the arm, leading her into a small guests' waiting room; that the journalist Mònica Hernández felt intimidated, that there was a lot of tension and many of the people present felt a significant degree of stress; that the attitude of deputy Francesc de Dalmases on July 9th was incorrect; and that the honourable member of parliament lost his temper, and doing so in such an excessive way and in public is a situation to be avoided, and even more so when the person concerned is a public representative.
The report leaves open the possibility of disciplinary measures in the last paragraph: "If it is considered appropriate to adopt any decision on this, I would recommend sending this report to the Commission of Guarantees of the Junts party, in order to study the subject and make the proposal it deems appropriate." Thus, she ends up passing the hot potato to the corresponding organs of the party. The attitude of Borràs and of Aurora Madaula, MP and Junts co-vice-president - who sent an intimidating WhatsApp - in combination with the Oranich report's accusations and despite the fact neither of the two have spoken publicly or even tweeted about the case, has reopened the question of the internal coexistence in the bosom of Junts, with important sectors of the organization not ready to close the case and gently turn the page.