The question of the parliamentary immunity of Catalan MEPs Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí is the focus of a new initiative seeking to explain their arguments, and the issues involved, to a broader public. Pro-independence party Together for Catalonia (JxCat) has published a series of videos on social media setting out why European parliamentarians should resist the Spanish court demand to waive their immunity from prosecution. The Catalan MEPs assert that their case is one of "political persecution" and, as well, that the European chamber needs to act in the case to protect itself as an independent institution.
In fact, this Thursday, the Legal Affairs Committee will again place the JxCat leader Puigdemont under its spotlight, not because of the immunity issue, but rather, because of another case which the MEP himself has promoted. It is a request for protection that he put to the European Parliament following the information published last August by the newspaper El Mundo reporting that the Supreme Court had opened a secret section of the case against him and, with that justification, was monitoring his telephone conversations and those of people around him.
The Spanish Supreme Court breaches immunity inside Spain? Here you'll find why. https://t.co/C5afmeKJlb https://t.co/gUJM4arDoL pic.twitter.com/Qx6fui1t1K
— Junts i Lliures per Europa (@JuntsEU) February 3, 2021
One of the videos released by the Junts party to raise awareness of the failings of Spanish justice in the case of the exiled pro-independence Catalans.
The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, accepted this request for protection and forwarded it in September to the Legal Affairs Committee, which will study it from today. In this case, the promoter of the matter will be the Green MEP Marie Touissant. The circumstances behind this protection request are, say the MEPs, further fuel to their argument that they are suffering political persecution.
Fumus persecutionis
In addition to the procedural appearances which the three MEPs are making, JxCat is taking the issue beyond the walls of the committee room, where the Spanish request is being heard confidentially, and explaining their case so that it can be understood in the different political spheres of Brussels. Hence, this new campaign with videos on social media and content on the website of Junts i Lliures per Europa.
The campaign, in Catalan, English, French, German and Dutch, offers a detailed argument under the title "Why Parliament should reject the request for waiver of immunity". It outlines the three key reasons: the procedural irregularities in the case, the lack of substantiation of the charges and, thirdly, it denounces that the Spanish request amounts to a fumus persecutionis, that is to say, there is a well-founded suspicion that the legal procedure was started with the intention to "cause damage to the political activity of the deputy."
As well as the written text of the argument in five languages, a series of videos have been prepared. The first, three minutes long, begins by explaining why the Spanish judiciary has called for the lifting of the immunity of the MEPs, in relation to their involvement in the 1st October 2017 independence referendum. The video features images of the referendum, the Spanish Supreme Court trial of other independence leaders, and the massive demonstrations in Brussels (2017) and in Perpignan exactly a year ago, before discussing the problems with the Spanish court's request: procedural irregularities, unsubstantiated charges and political persecution.
Another video goes into detail on why the Spanish Supreme Court does not have the jurisdiction to try the MEPs, as the three Catalans assert. With regard to this, it presents the recent decision of the Brussels Court of Appeal against the European Arrest Warrant for Lluís Puig, as well as the ruling of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention against the imprisonment of Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Sànchez and Oriol Junqueras.
A further video focuses on the European Arrest Warrants issued by judge Pablo Llarena and Spain's refusal to accept the immunity of the three MEPs.
The final video explains that the lifting of the MEPs' immunity would pave the way for the three MEPs to be imprisoned before trial.
With regard to the processing of the petition to waive their immunity, Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí have already appeared before the parliamentary committee to argue their defence. At present, the petition is awaiting the report of the MEP acting as its promoter.
In the main image, Carles Puigdemont with MEPs Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín / ACN