The Member of the Spanish Congress for Esquerra Republicana Montse Bassa recalls that only amnesty can end imprisonment, exile and the lawsuits still open against thousands of pro-independence activists.

Putting an end to the general cause against the pro-independence movement, of which 3,000 members are currently still suffering reprisals, is the goal of Esquerra Republicana and the other pro-independence parties with members in Spain’s Congress—centre-right JxCat, left-wing CUP and liberal PDeCAT. Together with civic organizations Omnium and Amnistia i Llibertat (Amnesty & Freedom), they submitted an Amnesty bill before the Spanish lower chamber today.

Esquerra’s Member of Congress Montse Bassa recalled that “the response by the Spanish state to an exercise in civic and peaceful disobedience of over 2 million people was very serious: 9 people in prison, more in exile, and 3,000 people under prosecution, many of them facing possible jail and Court of Audit sentences.” She condemned the repressive disproportion as “savage.”

In the same vein, Ms Bassa assured that the “vengeance” could only end “with an Amnesty law, a law that implied clearing the slate for the whole pro-independence movement.” She also warned the Spanish socialist PSOE and new-left Podemos coalition government that “If they truly believe that repression was a mistake, what they must do is pass the Amnesty Law, to reverse the mistake and return the political conflict to the political domain.”

Finally, the sister of political prisoner Dolors Bassa also warned that “rejecting this bill is to maintain injustice and vengeance, and what is in effect hostage negotiations. We understand the law to be a starting point for a democratic solution,” concluded Ms Bassa.