The Catalan political prisoners have met again in Josa del Cadí. The nine convicted pro-independence leaders - former speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell, the former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, the ex-ministers Dolors Bassa, Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn, in addition to the former presidents of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, and of the ANC, Jordi Sànchez - met this Thursday to celebrate a lunch at 1,400 metres of altitude, in the Cadí-Moixeró natural park.
The meeting, as ElNacional.cat can report, was in Josa del Cadí, a Pyrenean village where Turull, who hosted the meeting, has a family residence. It had been almost a year since their last meeting. The previous time they came together was in November last year in the Penedès, and a few months earlier, in July, they had met in l'Escala. All nine were jailed on remand in the period after the 1-O referendum of 2017, charged with rebellion, which is defined as a violent uprising, for their parts in the independence process. In October 2019, they were convicted by the Supreme Court of sedition, and in some cases of misuse of funds, and sentenced to jail terms ranging from 9 to 13 years. In June 2021, they were partially pardoned by the Spanish government, having all been imprisoned for at least three years. They remained banned from holding public office.
This 2023 reunion takes place in a very different political context than a year ago: amidst the debate due to the talks that the pro-independence parties are having with the Spanish Socialists (PSOE) on a possible investiture of the PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez, after the Spanish general election on July 23rd left the key to Spain's governability in the hands of the Catalan sovereignist MPs. This situation has caused tension between the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts), each with seven deputies in Congress, over relative influence of each party on the negotiations - which Junqueras, ERC president, and Turull, general secretary of Junts, are following from the front line.
In these negotiations, the proposal for an amnesty law to wipe the slate clean for independence process prosecutions is positioned as one of the key issues and could mean the removal of the legal sword of Damocles hanging over more than 1,400 people who, according to Òmnium's latest count, remain involved in cases opened since the 9th November 2014 unofficial consultation on Catalan independence.
However, it should be added that, at the meetings of these nine pro-independence leaders, politics takes a back seat.
"Dragon balls"
The lunch was held at Ca l'Amador, one of the most emblematic and popular restaurants in the district, run by chef Diego Alías. The cook offered his guests, in a small private room overlooking the Cadí mountain range, a sample of his dishes which are characterized by mountain cuisine, with local products, and an extremely creative approach. It is quite likely that among the dishes enjoyed by the 1st October referendum leaders were the pop de muntanya - literally, "mountain octupus" - the carpaccio of pig's trotters or the potato omelette with scallop and truffle mayonnaise. But what was certainly not missing were the essential Ca l'Amador bolas de drac - "dragon balls" - balls of mountain elderberry with a granizado of sake distilled in the neighbouring town of Tuixent.