The president of Catalonia, Quim Torra, has demanded the immediate resignation of the president of Spain's General Council of the Judiciary and has asked for the anullment of the cases being brought against the leaders of last year's independence referendum. He made these calls in an official statement this Thursday in response to the leaked emails from Spanish judges revealing hatred for the Catalan independence movement. "Today we can say there is no judicial security in the Spanish state", said Torra.
"The gravity of the conversations and messages that have come to light is so intense that it questions the foundations of any state under democracy and rule of law," said the Catalan president, demanding the immediate removal of the judges concerned from practice. "It is unacceptable behaviour and one more demonstration of the absolute absence of impartiality in Spanish justice."
For this reason, the president also called on the Public Prosecution Service to open an investigation to clarify the facts and take measures against those responsible. Torra announced that he has ordered a legal report to study the actions that the Catalan government will take and was to discuss the issue with the Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez later on Thursday, to demand an "immediate and convincing response".
Institutional declaration of the #president @QuimTorraiPla from the #Palau of the Generalitat pic.twitter.com/GuSsFfD0XQ
— Government. Generality (@govern) 20 of September 2018
The Catalan president affirmed that "a part of Spain's Judicial Power has a direct interest in the cases that it is judging and shows favouritism and partiality", and for that reason demanded the anullment of all investigations with respect to the independence process as well as the immediate release of all prisoners.
Translation of video voiceover:
Among the stronger messages, there is one that says "With the coup plotters, there can be no negotiation and no dialogue"; a second compares the situation in Catalonia with "Germany in the 1930s"; a third says that "the seditious Catalans have to go to prison just like Tejero [an armed leader of the attempted military coup of 1981]. And in a fourth message, a judge says his/her family decided to leave Catalonia so that the "virus of hatred" did not "infect" their son.
As well, the Catalan government will urge European authorities to "take action with regard to Spain and its democratic deficiencies". In particular, Torra addressed the EU's Commission for Justice.