Esquerra’s leader accuses the high court of interfering in decisions by Catalan prison officials

Esquerra’s President Oriol Junqueras has filed a complaint against the Supreme Court concerning the threats made at Catalan prison officials on March 31, and preventing political prisoners from spending confinement at home despite meeting the legal requirements for this.

In the accusation, Mr Junqueras requests the Investigating Court firstly to identify who is the specific perpetrator of the threats, logically pointing out that this must be a member of the Supreme Court or the General Council of the Judiciary. In fact, the Supreme Court itself formally issued the communiqué after it was published in the media. Once the perpetrator has been identified, the party leader will sue that person for crimes of coercion, threat, malfeasance, and other crimes against fundamental rights, as well as requesting their immediate suspension by the Court.

Mr Junqueras claims that the threat from the Supreme Court was an assault on the separation of powers, by directly interfering with the decision-making of Catalan officials. In this context, Esquerra’s leader recalls the recommendations made by various international bodies, such as the WHO, the Council of Europe, and the United Nations, aimed at reducing the number of inmates in prisons in the circumstance of the COVID-19 emergency.

The legal proceedings thus initiated by Mr Junqueras are in addition to the international initiative he took on April 2 by denouncing his situation and that of the other political prisoners in two letters to the Council of Europe and the UN.