Strasbourg's setback for Junqueras, Turull and Sánchez: it says that Spain did not violate their rights with preventive detention

BarcelonaSo far, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has been overturning all resources of the independence movement that has arrived. This Thursday was no exception: Strasbourg concluded that Spain did not violate the political rights of Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sánchez, and Jordi Turull when it prevented them from exercising their rights as members of parliament during their pretrial detention, when they were elected to the Catalan Parliament in the 2017 elections. The Court found no violation of their right to free elections or their right to liberty, and therefore upheld the limitation of rights that resulted from their deprivation of liberty.

In its opinion, the Supreme Court sufficiently justified the deprivation of liberty to "preserve the constitutional order," noting that they were all able to participate in the Catalan elections and that, despite not being able to exercise their rights in person, they were able to take office and subsequently elect a president, Quim Torra, on the 2nd. However, the political issue is that imprisonment prevented both Sánchez and Turull from being sworn in because the session had to be in person.

This is one of the cases that remained pending before the ECHR, although it is not yet the main case related to the Supreme Court's ruling on the October 1st events for sedition and misuse of public funds. What was the court to decide today? These were appeals concerning the veto on political participation. Specifically, Oriol Junqueras brought before the ECHR the fact that he was not allowed to take his seat in the Catalan Parliament as a member of parliament following the December 21, 2017 elections; Jordi Sànchez, the inability to participate in the election campaign, the inability to take his seat in the Catalan Parliament, and the inability to undergo an investiture debate as a member of parliament; and Jordi Turull, the inability to participate in the investiture debate.

They all alleged that the Spanish state had violated several articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, such as the right to liberty and security, freedom of expression, and the right to stand for free elections.

The Demirtas case

One of the precedents cited by the three former political prisoners in their appeals against Spain is that of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, whom Turkey imprisoned as a member of parliament and prevented from exercising his rights. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered his release in 2018, a precedent the Catalan political prisoners later used to request their own freedom from both the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. All their petitions were denied, and today, after eight years, Strasbourg sided with the Spanish courts.

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