Far-right political party Vox has this morning presented its charging document in the trial over last year's Catalan referendum. It has done so as an acusación popular, a mechanism in Spanish justice which allows for the public to participate in legal proceedings to defend the law, without demonstrating direct personal harm. They triple the accusations of the other parties, calling for two charges of rebellion, one of 20th September and one for the 1st October, as well as criminal organisation and misuse of public funds and sedition.
The party calls for 74 years in prison for each of the imprisoned ministers, 24 years for each of the ministers who are currently free, 65 years each for the Jordis, 50 for Carme Forcadell and 12 for each of the members of the Catalan Parliament's bureau and Mireia Boya. These are notably higher than the penalties called for by public prosecutors.
Outside the Supreme Court, having delivered their filing, Vox's secretary general, Javier Ortega, thanked the judges for their work by which "with their rigour, loyalty and their independence will achieve, together with this acusación popular from Vox, that the coup participants end up in prison".
21st century coups
Vox shows itself to be implacable in its charging document, inventing a new formulation of violence to justify its two charges of rebellion. Once again, however, the proof of a charge defined as "violent uprising" does not go beyond popular mobilisation and passive resistance. That is, according to Vox, a "sophisticated and innovative mechanism" for coups in the 21st century.
The text says: "they counted on the use of popular mobilisation, an essential tool for the accused to try to avoid their responsibility in the whole process (aiming to put it all down to a supposed wish of the Catalan people) and a sophisticated and innovative mechanism (in comparison with other coups which have occurred in modern Western history) to deploy and carry out a coup d'état making it pass for a democratic process".
The other concept Vox uses is "latent" public violence: "Provoking the continuation of a situation of latent public violence which was growing more serious until the events which occurred following the calling of the illegal 1st October referendum, with especial virulence in those which took place on 20th and 21st September and 1st October itself".