The leader of Ciutadans, Inés Arrimadas, has denied this Friday that the Spanish state executed Catalan president Lluís Companys. "He was executed by a Francoist, fascist regime, not by the Spanish state," she said. Companys was executed by firing squad on 15th October 1940, eighteen months after the dictator Francisco Franco came to power at the end of the Spanish Civil War.
During a press conference in the Catalan Parliament, a journalist asked her why Cs didn't take part in Monday's commemoration at Companys' tomb. Arrimadas claimed she disagreed with the "orientation" of the ceremony, which her party has never taken part in.
The Cs leader was responding to a tweet from current Catalan president Quim Torra earlier this week: "78 years ago today, president Lluís Companys, democratically elected, was murdered by the Spanish state. They killed him, but his cry is ours still: democracy, liberty and a republic". The president ended his tweet quoting his predecessor's last words: "Per Catalunya" (For Catalonia).
Avui fa 78 anys el president #LluísCompanys, escollit democràticament, va ser assassinat per l’Estat espanyol. El van matar a ell però el seu clam continua essent el nostre: democràcia, llibertat i república. Sapiguem ser dignes de la seva mort. Per Catalunya!
— Quim Torra i Pla (@QuimTorraiPla) 15 d’octubre de 2018