Spain's largest professional association for public prosecutors, Asociación de Fiscales, has mocked the fact that the Supreme Court has revoked leave privileges for the Catalan political prisoners this Friday, and that, therefore, the jailed leader of the ERC political party, Oriol Junqueras, will not be able to leave Lledoners prison this Christmas.
"Junqueras will eat nougat in Lledoners", the association said on Twitter, a reference to the Catalan Christmas tradition of nougat sweets, and to the fact that Junqueras, like all nine of the jailed leaders serving long sentences for sedition and misuse of funds in relation to the 2017 independence referendum, has seen his opportunities for leave outside the prison reduced by today's ruling from the Supreme Court. The phrase in the tweet is not the prosecutors' own invention, but is a headline from the newspaper El Mundo, which they have reproduced in the tweet message, which also includes a link to the newspaper. Several hours later, the prosecutors association removed the tweet.
Capture of the tweet by the association of Spanish prosecutors: "Junqueras will eat nougat in Lledoners"
Supreme Court revokes open prison regime
The prosecutors' association published the tweet this Friday after the decision from Spain's Supreme Court revoking the Level 3 prison regime granted to the Catalan political prisoners by the justice department. Spain's highest court, which tried and sentenced the pro-independence leaders in last year's trial, ruled that the granting of this semi-liberty regime to the inmates, including Junqueras, is premature and, therefore, more time must elapse in order to properly assess the evolution of the penitentiary treatment.
It also stated that for long prison sentences (such as the 9 to 13 years being served by the Catalan politicians and activists), at least half the sentence should normally be served before such an open regime is granted. Most of the convicted pro-independence have not even served a quarter of their sentences.
The Supreme Court has also ruled that granting permission to the prisoners to work outside the prison under article 100.2 of the regulations is invalid as it has no relation to a "reintegration process".
Reactions
Both the PP and Ciudadanos also celebrated the definitive cancellation of the Level 3 prison regime, which they affirmed had been granted to the political and civil leaders as a "privilege". Until today, the open regime was still being enjoyed by the former parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell and the ex-labour minister Dolors Bassa. In fact, the former minister said this Friday that she had heard the news from the media and when asked for comment, she said was waiting to be called from the prison.
On the other hand, the main Catalan pro-independence organizations have universally denounced the suspension of the more regime. The vice-president of Òmnium Cultural, Marcel Mauri, has assured that the state powers are "again violating the rights of the political prisoners". The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) stated that this resolution "is not an ordinary decision in penitentiary law, it is torture and carnage."