The proposed project by the Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Government to build a Provincial Court building on the current "historic site" of the city (Passeig Lluís Companys, 1-5) is a complete absurdity. And it is absurd both in terms of its content and its procedure.

Xavier Padial left the courtroom almost unfazed, handcuffed and surrounded by six Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police officers), heading straight to the cells. The Barcelona Provincial Court had just announced, a few minutes before 1:00 p.m., that he was sentenced to 57 years in prison for torture, as argued by the prosecution during the trial, and for the continuous sexual abuse of two of his underage cousins and for inducing one of them into prostitution. Furthermore, this confessed pedophile from Barberà del Vallès is also convicted of producing and possessing pornographic material. But the man will only have to serve the maximum effective sentence: 20 years.