The Diplomat
The UN Human Rights Committee ruled yesterday that Spain violated the political rights of former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras and former ministers Raül Romeva, Josep Rull and Jordi Turull by suspending them from their public functions after being prosecuted for rebellion because it was done before there was a conviction for the ‘procés’, reports Europa Press.
It reached this conclusion after examining the complaint of the four former Catalan leaders who, during their pre-trial detention, presented their case before the Committee alleging that the suspension of their functions, prior to the existence of a conviction, violated their political rights under article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Spanish government, on the other hand, argued that all four agreed to be replaced by other members of their parliamentary group for the duration of their suspension. It noted that, with the exception of Romeva, “the authors resigned on 17 May 2019 from their posts as regional deputies in order to take up their posts as deputies in the Congress of Deputies” after being elected in the general elections of April 2019.
