The decision of a Barcelona court to confirm the prosecution of 29 people who were senior government officials during the independence referendum of October 1st, 2017 is, de facto, the starting point of the second wave of political trials against the second line of the Catalan pro-independence movement. The ratification of the charges of misuse of public funds, abuse of office, document falsification and disobedience that, partially or totally, have been applied to those under investigation, who at that time held positions of responsibility in different government departments, only serves to make the reality absolutely clear: the judicial machinery is acting like a steamroller and while the political sector becomes desperate to indefinitely postpone the pardons which it committed to, the next thing on the calendar will end up being a macro-trial with pro-independence defendants that could undoubtedly end up with long sentences. disqualification from office and who knows if there may be prison as well.
Most of the defendants are charged with one of the offences mentioned above in connection with the dissemination, recruitment, preparation, organization and, above all, publicity of the 1st October referendum. More than three and a half years have passed since that day, the court case is still open and no trial date has yet been set - beforehand, there will be further testimonies from the defendants - and the state has not moved at all on the rigid positions it adopted then. Governments have come and gone, from Mariano Rajoy to Pedro Sánchez, and no substantial change has been observed with regard to the positioning of public prosecutors and state soliticitors. All this, without forgetting that they were already required to post civil bail for 5,803,068.87 euros in a previous court proceeding to cover the hypothetical funds which they are accused of misappropriating.
That this ratification by the Barcelona Audience court should take place in the middle of negotiations to close a government agreement between ERC and Junts is a reminder to both parties of the terrain on which the game is being played and the judicial toxicity that exists against independence. It is legitimate that there are two strategies - three if we add that of the CUP - and that both are vehemently defended, but what would be absurd is that there should be different views of everyday reality. The 29 defendants are from both parties, share the same charges and will sit in the dock regardless of the political party that placed them in office.
When talking about future government agreements we should not forget that all of these accused people are facing retaliation in a political case, without any distinctions, beyond being one rank down in the organizational chart of the Catalan government from the cabinet ministers who were tried and convicted in the Supreme Court. There is already a lot of doctrine and a lot of national and international positions on that case and that injustice. It would be a mistake by the independence movement if, out of fatigue or political strategy, those now investigated were not to receive the same support that their superiors did.