Esquerra Republicana will challenge Spain’s Supreme Court ruling disregarding the European Court and will call on the European Parliament to defend Mr Junqueras’ immunity

The Supreme Court has disobeyed European justice and has detached Spain from the realm of European law, Esquerra Republicana announced on Thursday after the Court chaired by Justice Manuel Marchena decided to maintain its veto on Oriol Junqueras’s condition as an MEP. In an appearance flanked by party leaders, Esquerra Republicana Coordinator Pere Aragonès warned that this is "judicial autarky" and that "challenging a European sentence is extremely worrying," Aragonès warned.

The Republicans alert to the "scandal" the Supreme Court's decision signifies: it violated Mr Junqueras' political rights by denying him his immunity, which he gained upon election as an MEP, when he was in pre-trial custody; and now Justice Marchena has decided not to abide by the European Court ruling reasoning that there is already a final ruling convicting him.

We will ask the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, to defend Mr Junqueras' immunity in compliance with the European Justices

Pere Aragonès Esquerra's National Coordinator

And in the face of this decision and "the Eurosceptic drift" by the right-wing and the State’s establishment, the Republicans have opted to take two actions. The first is to appeal the Supreme Court's decision for its disobedience of a ruling by the European Court of Justice.

And second, we will ask the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, to defend Mr Junqueras' immunity in compliance with the European Justices. Likewise, the Republicans will request that the European Chamber verify the credentials of the President of Esquerra Republicana as an MEP in a vote in late January.

Esquerra Republicana is thus committed to exhausting all legal avenues and activating all political measures to disencumber the situation. "The conflict with Spain will not be resolved by the Supreme Court, nor by a judicial system held captive by the right; it will be solved by the people voting," concluded Aragonese.