The defence team representing Catalan president Quim Torra, facing the possible execution of his disqualification from office, has once again made a move in relation to the Spanish Supreme Court which is to hear his appeal against the sentence. The head of the Catalan executive has called for the recusal from the case of judge Miguel Colmenero, who had already announced that he was withdrawing from the trial due to his links with the central electoral commission. But, as well, Torra has gone much further, and has called for the recusal of ten Supreme Court justices who have been linked to Catalan referendum cases, including Manuel Marchena, who presided over the trial which convicted nine political and civil leaders of independence to long jail sentences.
In addition, with regard to Marchena, Torra also calls for the judge's abstention in the face of "doubts" about his "impartiality" due to the Supreme Court's "alteration of the order of scheduling", when it announced that the hearing of Torra's appeal would take place on September 17th. The defence submission attributes this fact to a "specific" order from Marchena, president of the Supreme Court's criminal chamber.
As well as Marchena, Torra asks for the other judges who heard the independence referendum trial to be stood down: that is, Andrés Martínez Arrieta, Juan Ramón Berdugo, Antonio del Moral and Ana María Ferrer, as well as the investigating judge of the case, Pablo Llarena, and judge Carmen Lamela, who played a key role in the initial stages. The Torra defence asserts that all of these judges participated in the arbitrary detention of the political leaders of the Catalan referendum, and it bases this argument on the conclusions reached by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
The Catalan president also seeks the removal from the case of Julián Sánchez Melgar, who as state attorney general, requested imprisonment, as well as Vicente Magro and Eduardo Porres Ortiz.
As evidence of the need for this recusal, the defence document recalls that judge Ana María Ferrer, Supreme Court judge who is a member of Spain's electoral commission, abstained from all deliberations of this body connected to Catalan independence while she was participating in the leaders' trial.
Apart from these demands, Quim Torra's defence team have also asked for explanations on the general criteria for scheduling hearings, and in particular for his own hearing, announced for 17th September. With regard to this, the lawyers ask for information on the state of the cases pending for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020.