The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled in favor of the Spanish justice system for restricting the political rights of Jordi Sánchez, Jordi Turull, and Oriol Junqueras following their imprisonment for the October 1st referendum and the December 2017 elections. The Strasbourg court's decision, supported by Supreme Court Justice Pablo Llarena, found that the three leaders violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols. The ruling aligns with the Spanish Constitutional Court's assessment that there was sufficient evidence to suspect serious crimes. This is despite the fact that, as the UN Human Rights Committee stated, the leaders had called on citizens to demonstrate peacefully, and isolated acts of violence could not be attributed to them.
This is an adverse ruling for the three pro-independence leaders affected, who can still appeal to the Supreme Court. But it is also a troubling decision because in the coming months the same court must rule on the appeals filed by all former political prisoners against the trial in which the Supreme Court itself sentenced them to prison for sedition and misuse of public funds. It is worrying because this high court has upheld precautionary measures, already disproportionate, which, in addition to altering the election results, changed the political landscape with the absence of some of its key players. Indeed, the UN Human Rights Committee concluded in August 2022 that Spain had violated the political rights of Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Josep Rull, and Jordi Turull. Previously, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called in 2019 for the immediate release of Junqueras, Sánchez, Romeva, Rull, Bassa, Forn and Cuixart, and recommended compensation and a thorough and independent investigation of the case.
Let us recall that Jordi Sànchez, former president of the ANC and second on the Junts list in the 2017 elections, was unable to participate in the election campaign, attend Parliament, or be present at the investiture session. Oriol Junqueras, president of ERC and then vice-president of the Catalan government, was barred by Judge Llarena from attending the inaugural session of Parliament on January 17, 2018. And Jordi Turull was unable to complete the debate on his potential investiture. To this end, the Supreme Court scandalously imposed the suspension of the members of parliament based on Article 384 bis of the Criminal Procedure Law, which allows for such suspension once the indictment is final and provisional detention has been ordered for a crime committed by a person belonging to or associated with armed groups or terrorist organizations. It is a precept that Llarena unexpectedly revived, and which had been conceived for the elected Basques in the late 80s, and applied at the time to Josu Ternera.
Unfortunately, the ECHR now believes that Llarena did not act arbitrarily and that he did not interfere with the free expression of public opinion because there was "a detailed justification of the need to prevent the risk of flight and recidivism by the applicants." It states that any interference with the applicants' rights of representation was avoided because they were allowed to vote in Parliament through proxy voting, thus guaranteeing respect for the distribution of votes decided by the citizens at the ballot box. However, the UN committee, considering the same facts, deemed this contrary to Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees that all citizens can exercise the right to participate in public service under conditions of equality. The UN resolution even criticized the lack of objectivity and impartiality: "It was arbitrary because it did not analyze the individual circumstances of the applicants and there were no guarantees of impartiality."
All of this makes clear not only the ECHR's eagerness to shirk responsibility for a politically highly contentious issue, but also that Spain, whether one likes it or not, is a major player in Europe, not only within the European Union, but also in the Council of Europe and its human rights protection system, which comprises some fifty member states. Furthermore, there are those within the courts who are supporting the conservative Spanish judges: one of the judges on the panel is the Spanish judge Maria Elósegui, controversial for her views against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
