The President of Esquerra Republicana, Oriol Junqueras, today submitted a new appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against the rejection of precautionary measures by the European General Court (EGC) and the consequent decision by the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, that Mr Junqueras’ seat should remain vacant.

In the plea, Oriol Junqueras’ lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde highlights up to seven grounds for appeal, including the fact that the European Parliament has been unable to take any decision “on the protection of the privileges and the immunity of Oriol Junqueras”; or that the European Parliament might have “substantiated the contravention of the ruling of December 19 by the CJEU,” which decreed that Mr Junqueras did indeed enjoy immunity, as well as the “violation of the rights” of the president of Esquerra Republicana.

Accordingly, Mr Junqueras’ defence urges the CJEU to annul and revoke the EGC’s order of last March that left his seat vacant and that the fundamental rights of Oriol Junqueras be restored by recognizing his immunity and his charge as an MEP.

Esquerra Republicana once again reiterates the right of Oriol Junqueras to take his seat as an MEP. The ruling of the CJEU last December was absolutely clear: Oriol Junqueras has been an MEP since the proclamation of the results of the European Parliament elections and has enjoyed parliamentary immunity since that day. Therefore, the Spanish state should have proceeded to petition if it wanted to have this condition reversed, but it did not do so and has since then held Oriol Junqueras defenceless.

For this reason, Esquerra laments that the repression by the Spanish state has also entered the European Parliament by leaving the seat of the party president vacant. We therefore demand that the “Junqueras Doctrine” be complied with and that the democratic mandate that arose from the elections be upheld.

Finally, Esquerra Republicana will take this injustice and violation of rights that is being committed against the political prisoners before all possible international bodies and will defend the fundamental rights of all the citizens. In the European Parliament, the party will continue to denounce the situation of repression, political persecution and unjust imprisonment with all its strength and conviction.