Supreme Court suspends Reguant's trial due to procedural irregularity
Prosecutor's Office will have to present a new indictment and hearing will have to be re-scheduled
The Supreme Court has suspended the trial of CUP MP Eulàlia Reguant due to a procedural irregularity. Faced with the defence's protests, the court will set a new date for the trial, which was to begin this Tuesday.
The problem lies in the fact that Eulàlia Reguant's situation changed last February 14 when, after the Catalan elections, she became a member of Parliament. This meant she could no longer be tried by a regular court, only by the Supreme Court. That is why Madrid's no. 10 Court should have refrained from continuing with the case and transfer it to the Supreme Court. Instead, it continued investigating and even called for a hearing last April. Despite last minute efforts by the prosecution, the trial has now been called off.
Reguant stands accused of disobedience for refusing to answer far-right Vox's prosecutor's questions in the trial over the 2017 referendum. Reguant's lawyer Daniel Amelang pointed out that the consequences of a guilty verdict would be "clearly disproportionate". They would entail six months suspended prison sentence and the violation of the fundamental right to political participation, he denounced. Amelang has also pointed out that Reguant already paid a €2,500 fine for the same events. This sanction, he protests, is provided for in the legislation for witnesses in trials who commit some punishable but not criminal offence. If Reguant had to pay because there was no crime, she should not be prosecuted criminally now, the defense argues. Otherwise, the first sanction should be annulled before the judicial process continues. In addition, Amelang appealed to the ideological freedom and freedom of expression in order not to be judged.
Reguant received support from ERC, JxCat, PDECat, EH Bildu, Més per Mallorca, Òmnium Cultural and Assemblea outside the trial. There was also a wide CUP representation, including the new member of the Parliamentary Bureau Carles Riera and CUP leader in the Catalan Parliament, Dolors Sabater.
