The video of the testimony of the former ministers of the Catalan government before Spanish National Audience court judge Carmen Lamela on 2nd November last year, just hours before they were all sent to prison, shows that they all repeatedly stated that they had never promoted nor taken part in any violent act or aimed to prevent police or legal work. Many of them are still being held in pretrial detention; two of them, Oriol Junqueras and Joaquim Forn, haven't been out since.
The videos, obtained by Catalan news agency ACN, show the ministers arguing, based on their personal and political records, that they do not believe in violence as a political solution, that they have always supported dialogue and democracy.
Vice-president and economy minister Oriol Junqueras denied having spent any public money on the independence referendum. Minister Santi Vila, meanwhile, one of the few not currently in prison, emphasised his negotiations with Madrid politicians to find a solution to "avoid the collapse".
The videos, recorded by the hearing room's camera, show judge Carmen Lamela to the right of frame, the two prosecutors facing the camera, the defence counsel facing away at the bottom of the image and the ministers, one-by-one, side on to the left, looking towards the judge.
The images show Junqueras and the ministers trying to defend themselves from the accusations of rebellion, sedition, disobedience, malfeasance and misuse of public funds. The majority only respond to questions from their respective lawyers, some to other defence counsel and Vila, the only one offered bail, also responded to prosecutors and the judge. The questionings lasted around five minutes each, long enough to say that they hadn't had time to prepare their defence, that they hadn't taken part in or promoted acts of violence and that no public money had been spent on the referendum. Vila and former justice minister Carles Mundó were the only two to speak for any longer.
"Anything related to violence seems out of place to me"
Vice-president Junqueras stated that he's never taken part in or promoted violent acts, "due to personal conviction". "I'm a believer and anything related to violence seems out of place to me", he said, "my convictions distance me from and prevent me from having any relation to violent acts in any way". He also focused a large part of his response time on assuring that there was a certificate from the government's oversight body confirming that all its expenses had been spent as budgeted.
Labour and social affairs minister Dolors Bassa also evoked her record, including her religious past, to say that she's always supported non-violence. "I'm a teacher in a Christian semi-private school in Torroella de Montgrí; my principles are against violence, and in my statements I've never talked about violence, rather about pacifism," she told Lamela.
For his part, interior minister Joaquim Forn said that, both publicly and privately, he had always ordered his subordinates and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), since his appointment in July, that legal orders have to be observed: "We have jurisdiction as a judiciary police and orders have to be obeyed, whatever they are".
Carles Mundó testified for a little longer than his colleagues, around eight minutes, but along the same lines. He also noted that the High Court of Justice of Catalonia had explicitly rejected the accusation of rebellion brought by far-right party Vox against the Catalan government in September. He also said that the budget line item of 6.2 million euros blocked by the Constitutional Court wasn't used for the referendum.
Foreign minister Raül Romeva noted that he's advocated for conscientious objection, pacifism and the fight for fundamental rights for over 25 years, always peacefully and democratically. "Violence cannot be considered an option", he said, adding that the Catalan government never discussed it, nor did any individual member of the government. Romeva also denied having urged for them to cause problems for police and legal powers in their work. "We've always defended the right of expression, fundamental rights, peacefully and democratically", saying this was the unanimous position of the Catalan government.
Jordi Turull, presidency minister, said that he had never in his life participated in any violent act, nor promoted one. Responding to questions from his lawyer, he said he's always supported "non-violence, democracy, ballot boxes, civility and pacifism". Territory minister Josep Rull and governance minister Meritxell Borràs made very similar statements.
Santi Vila distances himself
The longest testimony was from Santi Vila, lasting more than half an hour, as he responded to all the parties, including the prosecution and the judge. He said he had never taken part in nor promoted violent acts and that he had negotiated with politicians in Madrid, who he didn't want to identify, to try to avoid "the situation of collapse".
According to Vila, JxSí's pro-independence election manifesto didn't contravene the Spanish Constitution, because it only wanted to promote "civil initiatives, popular mobilisations" to end up forcing the Spanish government to find a negotiated solution. Similarly, the Catalan government, he said, took no political or administrative action in favour of independence. He also said that neither he nor any other member of the Catalan government had dedicated a single public euro to the referendum. Not even the order formally convening the referendum went against the Constitutional Court's verdicts, he said, since it "had a component of public mobilisation". "I thought that it was necessary to channel public sentiment, I thought that in the end we would achieve a political consensus to make it possible, like on other occasions", he said, at the same time as admitting that he might have been "naive".
Vila argued that independence is a legal political project, although he had expressed opposition, both publicly and privately, to the path chosen. As such, he admitted that the preceding months had been tense in the government and said that the Spanish Constitution was still in force in Catalonia because the declaration of independence of 27th October had had "no practical consequence". He also said that they need to be self-critical.
These comments meant he was the only one who testified that day who prosecutors recommended bail for, set at 50,000€ (£44,000, $59,000), which he paid the next day.