By Toby J. Shay
On the 22nd of June 2021 Spanish President, Pedro Sanchez, pardoned nine imprisoned Catalan separatist leaders.
"With this act, we want to open a new era of dialogue and reconciliation, and end once and for all the division and confrontation."[1]
President Pedro Sanchez
Over two years ago, on the 12th of February 2019 14 pro-independence Catalonian politicians and activists were put on trial in the Spanish Supreme Court, nine of which were convicted with sentences of up to 13 years for sedition and the misuse of public funds, in relation to the 2017 Catalan independence referendum which was, and still is, deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish government. This trail became popularly known as “el procés” in the Spanish media and it is these nine prisoners of “el procés” which President Sanchez has pardoned. Although this allowed for their release, it is only a conditional accord dependent on them not committing any further crimes. This caveat includes any breaches of their convictions from “el procés,” which also banned them from holding public office for the duration of their sentence.
The Spanish president announced the pardons shortly after receiving pressure from the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee on Legal Affairs to release the prisoners of “el procés” as they declared that:
“The mere expression of pro-independence opinions is not a reason for criminal prosecution.”[2]
Although President Sanchez did not openly concede that this was the reason for him taking these measures, he did stress in his proclamation that the imprisonment of the nine pro-independence leaders was not for their nationalist ideologies but for their actions, which he emphasized by saying:
“This measure of pardon does not require those who benefit from it to change their ideas. In fact, the people imprisoned were never punished for their ideas but for their acts contrary to democratic legality.”[1]
Instead, the president justified the pardons with the following statement:
“The Spanish Government has taken this decision because it is the best one for Catalonia, the best one for Spain and the one that most closely represents the spirit of coexistence and harmony set out in the Spanish constitution”[1]
However, is the President right in his assumption that this will bolster unity in his nation? The heckles during his speech announcing the pardons on the 21st of June 2021, even while saying that he understands and does not ignore people's apprehensions, suggest otherwise.[4]
President Sanchez claims that the positive effects of the pardons are already beginning to take effect given that “serenity”[5] is passing through his nation, yet the results of recent polls do not seem to comply with his sentiment. Ipsos, a Market research company, conducted a poll which found that around 53% of Spaniards are against the pardons.[6] This level of disapproval within the Spanish public on this contentious matter was reflected by a mass protest in Madrid on the 13th of June 2021, even before the official announcement of the pardons was made. The motive of the 126,000 estimated to be in attendance [7] was not only to protest against the release of the nine prisoners of “el procés” but also against their government as a whole which they deem to exercise "exclusionary, sectarian and dangerous power".[7] Many brandished Spanish flags inscribed with messages such as “indultos = insultos”(“pardons = insults”) and even chanted for President Sanchez’ resignation.[7] In addition, leaders of the opposition parties, including PP, Vox, and Cuidadanos, to President Sanchez’ left-wing coalition government of PSEO and Podemos were present at the demonstration. In particular, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, leader of PP, has overtly expressed her disapproval for the President’s actions and said:
"[the government’s decision is] far from bringing harmony, [it] strengthens separatism and social division"[3]
Moreover, to prove yet further the lack of support for this motion, the Spanish Supreme Court initially refused to grant the pardons. This hardly paints a picture of “serenity”.[5]
Now if we go from Madrid to Barcelona, where President Sanchez did in fact first announce the pardons on the 21st of June 2021, the issue has been no less controversial. When President Sanchez came to the city to deliver his speech in the Gran Teatre del Liceu (theatre in Barcelona), with which he hoped to mitigate tension with the autonomous region of Catalan, all members of the Generalitat (Catalonian Government) boycotted the event. In reference to the President's speech Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's former President at the time of the 2017 referendum, who subsequently fled to Belgium where is currently in exile to avoid trial in “el procés”, said the following:
“You can listen to opera, even do plays at the Liceu, but it’s in parliament where you do politics and where messages need to be sent.”[8]
These words illustrate how farcical and futile he considers President’s promises to be, an opinion shared by the protesters outside the Gran Teatre del Liceu that day. He has also expressed that the pardons do not solve the political conflict between Catalan and Spain. [3] For some, including Catalonia's former foreign minister Raül Romeva, one of the nine that were pardoned, these actions still represent the repression of their ideas, the very thing for which President Sanchez assured they were not detained. Raül Romeva tweeted:
"By pardoning nine people, they will not hide the repression they continue exercising against hundreds of separatists"[3]
On the other hand, some see the clemency of the Spanish government as a win for Catalan independence, as Jordi Cuixart, one of the nine incarcerated separatists, stated:
"The pardon will be the prelude to the defeat that Spain will suffer in Europe."[6]
This highlights his view that these pardons only foreshadow the occurrence of another Catalan referendum independence, which he has publicly shown his desire for in the past. It is not only Jordi Cuixart who has this desire. His fellow detainee and former Vice-President of the Generalitat at the time of the 2017 referendum, Oriol Junqueras, said this in regard to his release:
“We defend amnesty, a referendum and independence. If, for that purpose, we are more useful outside [prison] than inside, then we evidently wish to be useful.”[8]
Oriol Junqueras has gone one step further since his release and even traveled to Waterloo, Belgium, to visit Carles Puigdemont. Oriol Junqueras affirmed that “there has been no reproach,”[9] between the two despite Carles Puigdemont fleeing to Belgium while Oriol Junqueras faced trial. Oriol Junqueras even described the meeting as "special, emotional and enjoyable,"[9] which could be cause for concern for those wishing for Spain to remain unified and that believe, like President Sanchez, that “Spain is not Spain with Catalan, and Catalan is not Catalan without Spain.”[1]
The stoicism and steadfastness of these Spanish nationalists in their pursuit to obtain the independence of Catalan is the very reason so many oppose the pardons. At the end of May 2021 SocioMétrica, a company that conducts public opinion polls, carried out a survey that further confirmed this disquietude of the Spanish population as it found that over 78% of Spaniards viewed the pardons as an opening for the re-emergence of the rallying of the pro-independence movement.[6] This concern is easy to understand considering that Spain has several autonomous regions with deep-rooted cultural identities like Catalonia and the Basque Country for example, where there is fervent nationalist support too. These pardons set a precedent in such regions and if they do not achieve “harmony”[1] as President Sanchez has promised but rather the contrary, as several of the released separatist leaders seem to still be vying for, what will this mean for the union of the nation as a whole.
The current Catalonian President, Pere Aragonès, who too is pro-independence, had this to say about the matter:
"[The pardons] helps create credibility towards the right path. A path of negotiation and agreement towards solving the conflict." [10]
Although this indicates that he acknowledges that steps forward are being made in this “new era of dialogue”[1] as President Sanchez has called it, it also reiterates that he feels there still a very long way to go. While he has agreed to such negotiations with the President and his Government, he is still defiant in his principles and objectives for Catalan.
"Our proposal is clear: the exercise of the right to self-determination, a referendum on the independence of Catalonia, and an amnesty law to end the repression."[10]
Pere Aragonès
Taking all this into consideration, it would appear evident that President Sanchez’ aspiration to “end once and for all the division and confrontation,"[1] between Catalan and Spain seems far from reality at present, as his opposition from the right feel that he has been too lenient and yet Catalan pro-independence leaders and activists do not think he has done enough. Nonetheless, change will not happen overnight and President Sanchez himself says that it will be a long and challenging journey that Spain and Catalan have to take together in order to a pave brighter future for all.
"We live together and together we have to face the same concerns and the same problems. We will come up against challenges along the way, I am convinced of this, but I think it will be worth trying, for spaniards, for all the catalonians, for our sons and our daughter and for our grandsons and our granddaughters, for the whole of society. They derserve a better future in Catalania and in the whole of Spain."[1]
President Pedro Sanchez
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1 Pedro Sanchez, 22nd June 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXSHQWIx25M
2 "European committee tells Spain to release jailed pro-independence Catalan leaders" Greg Russell, The National, 4th June 2021, https://www.thenational.scot/news/19350084.european-committee-tells-spain-release-catalonias-jailed-independence-leaders/
3 "Spain pardons Catalan leaders over independence bid," BBC News, 22nd June 2021, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57565764
4 Pedro Sanchez, 21st June 2021, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x-7NMpdHlE
5 "Sánchez dice que los indultos a los presos del 'procés' ya empiezan a tener sus efectos," Heraldo, 3rd July 2021, https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/nacional/2021/07/03/pedro-sanchez-indultos-cataluna-proces-espana-1503929.html?autoref=true
6 "El perdón que divide a España: Sánchez indulta a los independentistas catalanes" Santiago Sánchez Benavides, Agencia Anadolu, 22nd June 2021, https://www.aa.com.tr/es/an%C3%A1lisis/el-perd%C3%B3n-que-divide-a-espa%C3%B1a-s%C3%A1nchez-indulta-a-los-independentistas-catalanes/2282039
7 "Multitudinaria manifestación en Colón contra los indultos y un Gobierno "excluyente, sectario y peligroso"" EuropaPress, 13th June 2021, https://www.europapress.es/nacional/noticia-multitudinaria-manifestacion-colon-contra-indultos-gobierno-excluyente-sectario-peligroso-20210613150929.html
8 "Poised to pardon jailed Catalan separatists, Spain’s PM may get little thanks" El país, 21st June 2021, https://english.elpais.com/politics/2021-06-21/poised-to-pardon-jailed-catalan-separatists-spains-pm-may-get-little-thanks.html
9 "Puigdemont y Junqueras se reencuentran en Waterloo casi cuatro años después" Jaume Masdeu, La Vanguardia, 7th July 2021, https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20210707/7584494/puigdemont-junqueras-reencuentran-waterloo-cuatro-anos-despues.html
10 "'Abandon unilateralism', Spanish FM tells Catalan separatists after pardons"EuroNews with AP, 23rd June 2021, https://www.euronews.com/2021/06/21/spain-to-approve-pardons-for-9-imprisoned-catalan-separatists-pm-says
Image source: Pedro Sanchez, 21st June 2021, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, EFE
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