The Supreme Court of Justice acquits Lluís Puig in the Sijena works case.

BarcelonaThe High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has acquitted former minister Lluís Puig of the crime of disobedience in the case of the Sijena artworks. The court ruled that insufficient evidence had been provided to conclude that the former Minister of Culture and member of the 1-O government, exiled in Belgium, repeatedly and persistently failed to comply with the requirements to transfer the 44 works deposited in the Lleida Museum to the Sijena Monastery in Huesca. The pieces were ultimately The Civil Guard took it in December 2017, in the midst of the Generalitat's intervention with Article 155.

The Prosecutor's Office requested a two-year disqualification for Puig and a fine of almost 6,000 euros for serious disobedience, considering that he had no "will" to hand over the works and that they would "probably" remain in Lleida without the 155 authorization and a 99,000 euro fine. On the contrary, the former minister's lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, argued that his client clearly showed a "will" to comply with the resolution but asked for time to study a "complex" issue.

The court finally ruled that "it has not been able to reach a full conviction, with the degree of certainty that a guilty verdict would require, that the failure to comply with the requirements to act imposed on the accused responded to a rebellious will and stubborn opposition to the court order." "The impossibility of confirming the presence in the defendant's conduct of all the essential elements to declare the crime of disobedience, the subject of the accusation, will necessarily force us to issue an acquittal," the court concludes. The sentence is not final, as it could still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

At the trial, which was held in Puig's absence—due to a legal change in Belgium, he was unable to hold a videoconference—the prosecutor insisted that the defendant "consciously and willfully" failed to comply with the 10-year deadline established by the court for the transfer of the pieces. These must be met and should not be "interpreted or delayed." He added: "A group of Civil Guards with a truck and several employees carried it out in 24 hours. It was not at all complex." The Sijena City Council lawyer, in turn, noted that Puig "is a pro-independence activist and is surely proud that the sentence was not carried out."

The defendant's defense emphasized, among other things, that the former minister's actions did not meet the jurisprudential requirements for the crime of disobedience, such as clear and repeated conduct, and this was the argument that led the court to rule in their favor. Pending possible appeals, the case also remains open for former minister Santi Vila, Puig's predecessor in Culture, who will be tried by a Barcelona criminal court in May. The Prosecutor's Office is also seeking a two-year ban from office and a fine of nearly €6,000, while the private prosecution is raising the request to 11 months in prison and a €162,000 fine because it includes the crime of usurpation of judicial powers. Vila requested amnesty for this case, but a Barcelona court rejected it.