Of the fugitives, only Ponsatí has ??made a move but it is expected that the other defenses will also resort to Llarena’s car
MADRID, 16 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The defenses of the convicted of ERC for the cause of the ‘procés’ finalize the writings that they will present before the Supreme Court (TS) while the lawyers of the convicted linked to Junts will wait for the magistrates to review the sentence handed down in 2019 to decide the legal actions to take.
Legal sources confirm to Europa Press that the law firms in charge of the defenses of the ‘procés’ are studying the criminal horizon of those who were convicted of sedition and/or embezzlement since last week the court itself summoned them to pronounce about how the latest reform of the Penal Code affects the sentence that sentenced the former vice president of the Generalitat of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras and 11 other pro-independence leaders.
The new wording of the norm repeals the crime of sedition and modifies that of embezzlement, two of the crimes that were imposed in the sentence on the ‘procés’. Specifically, 4 of the 12 convicted were for sedition in a media contest with embezzlement to prison terms and disqualification –Junqueras (13 years old), Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa (12 years)–, while 5 were sentenced only for sedition –Carme Forcadell (11 years and 6 months), Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull (10 years and 6 months), Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart (9 years)–.
According to the legal sources consulted, the defenses of Junqueras, Romeva and Bassa are already working on their writings after hearing the conclusions reached by the investigating magistrate of the ‘procés’, Pablo Llarena, who last Thursday issued an order in which pronounces on the case of the fled defendants – the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, the former councilors Toni Comín, Lluis Puig and Clara Ponsatí and the general secretary of ERC Marta Rovira -.
The same sources specify that the lawyers of Junqueras, Romeva and Bassa will speed up the eight-day period that the Supreme Court gave them to present their writings. For their part, they indicate that Cuixart’s defense is currently studying the situation of the leader of Òmnium Cultural.
The sources consulted also indicate that the lawyers for Sànchez, Turull and Rull will wait for the court to rule. As they indicate, his lawyers consider that Judge Llarena already noted in his order last week what could be the interpretation of the court that tried the case in the Supreme Court.
Thus, they will wait for the magistrates to issue their resolution and then they will present their writings, either through an appeal before the Supreme Court itself or in an amparo appeal before the Constitutional Court. At the moment, they do not rule out resorting as a last resort to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
For its part, it is not expected that Forn’s defense will present allegations before the Supreme Court, according to the same sources.
The court of the ‘procés’ must review the sentences imposed in 2019 to apply the most favorable Penal Code to the convicted, as established by the norm itself in its article 2. Although the Supreme Court has summoned the parties to rule, it will be the court — presided over by magistrate Manuel Marchena — who finally decides how the sentence remains.
In the case of the defendants fleeing the ‘procés’, on which Judge Llarena ruled in his resolution, only Ponsatí has ??made a move. The former Catalan councilor and MEP for Junts has filed an appeal this Monday against the magistrate’s decision to prosecute her for a crime of disobedience.
In an appeal to which Europa Press has had access, the defense has criticized that it has been charged “suddenly” and without requesting the corresponding request to the European Parliament, for which reason it has urged the instructor to withdraw the new national search and arrest warrant issued against him to avoid an “illegal” detention.
Ponsatí’s lawyer has insisted that her arrest has been ordered for “a crime for which she was never prosecuted” and that, in her opinion, “it would be time-barred.”
The sources consulted point out that it is expected that the rest of the defenses – that of Puigdemont, Comín, Puig and Rovira – will also appeal against the order of the ‘procés’ instructor.
