Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría will be the subject of a formal complaint to Spain's Public Prosecutor's Office after her statement on Saturday that Mariano Rajoy and the Popular Party (PP) were responsible for "decapitating" the pro-independence parties - referring to decisions that, in theory, were taken by judges. The intention to lay a complaint was announced by Eduard Pujol, spokesperson for the Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) list, on Sunday.
Sáenz de Santamaría boasted to an audience on Saturday that it was “Mariano Rajoy and the PP” who were responsible for the fact that “ERC, JuntsXCat and the rest of the secessionists don't have any leaders today because they have been decapitated”. For this reason, she asked for the vote for the PP, so they could “continue liquidating the independence movement” and “to consolidate” the actions carried out since the application of Spanish government's application of article 155 of the Spanish constitution, suspending Catalonia's home rule and dismissing its government.
Pujol announced the complaint against Spain's Deputy PM during an event on Sunday, accusing Rajoy of acting without the separation of powers that should reign in a democracy: "What did they expect? If they want to unmask [the truth], we will take them to court".
"You can't put people into and take them out of prison as you wish", said Eduard Pujol, adding that this breaches the rule of law. Pujol challenged the PP leaders to say the same things in front of a judge, saying that the actions the Spanish deputy PM referred to constituted a crime of interference with the course of justice.
Below, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría's original comments in Spanish: