Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer, the Barcelona judge who was investigating the preparations for the Catalan independence referendum held on 1st October 2017, has died this Sunday morning at the age of 71. The judge had undergone a long illness which had become aggravated in recent weeks and had already required him to be hospitalized during earlier periods.
On 8th January this year, judge Ramírez Sunyer had rejoined the court, after recovering from the illness that had prompted his admission to hospital in December, and once again took charge of the investigation into the preparations for the referendum. The judge had been stationed at Court number 13 in Barcelona for the last 15 years and, in spite of his health difficulties, had refused to retire until he reached the age of 72, a request that he accepted last year.
His death occurs in the middle of the investigation stage of the case against about 40 people for several alleged offences related to the holding of the independence referendum last year. Recently, the judge had been given relief from other judicial duties so that he could dedicate himself more completely to the referendum case. Now, another judge will have to take over the reins.
Ramírez Sunyer was the judge who ordered the searches and arrests which took place on 20th September 2017 in various Catalan government ministries, and he also investigated the case of the declarations of Santi Vidal, former judge and senator, about the preparations in the Catalan tax system for a future independence.
Ramírez Sunyer's court carried out the investigation which produced the police report on pro-independence civil group leaders Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, alleging that the two leaders committed an offence of sedition on 20th September during the protest outside the Catalan economy ministry.
The Barcelona court's current investigation is essentially separate from the case being conducted in Madrid by Spain's Supreme Court, against the leaders of the Catalan government, civil group leaders and other officials, for which prosecutors demanded sentences of up to 25 years jail last Friday. A third case, that against Catalan police chief Josep Lluís Trapero and senior Mossos police administrators, for whom prison terms of up to 11 years are sought, has been conducted in Spain's National Audience court, also in Madrid.