Sedition, one of the criminal offences at the centre of the trials of Catalan independence leaders in Spain, has been described today by the country's new justice minister as being more appropriate to "nineteenth century" law. Juan Carlos Campo, holder of the justice portfolio in the new Spanish coalition government, made the comment in relation to the new administration's plans to reform the country's penal code. "There's no need to be scared" by these changes, he said, especially by the review of the crime of sedition and its adaptation to European standards. A possible reform of the law could benefit the imprisoned Catalan independence leaders, nine of whom are already serving long jail sentences for sedition.
Speaking at a legal conference in Madrid, Campo stated that "the Catalan problem has meant that we have offences in our law such as sedition, more relevant to attacks on sovereignty in the nineteenth century, conceived in relation to those attacks involving tanks on the street." The minister asserted that "today we see that sovereignty is attacked in another way and it is necessary to provide a proportional response to such actions."
"New realities bring about changes in the area of criminal law," insisted the Socialist politician, noting that "the legislator must be attentive to the demands of society and not afraid to address new legislative realities by opening debate in a place as appropriate for it as parliament." And he added: "I'm not worried about the reforms, but rather about gaps, loopholes and impunity."