The trial of Catalonia independence leaders, legally named Causa Especial 20907/2017 and popularly known as the Causa del procés, was an oral trial that began on 12 February 2019 in the Supreme Court of Spain. The case was tried by seven judges and was chaired by judge Manuel Marchena. Judge Pablo Llarena had previously coordinated an instruction between October 2017 and July 2018, as a result of which 12 people were tried, including the previous vice president Oriol Junqueras of the regional government and most of the cabinet as well as political activists Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart and the former Speaker of the Parliament of Catalonia Carme Forcadell. Some defendants remained in pre-trial detention without bail from the beginning of the instruction process and have thus already served part of their sentence.
The accused were tried for the events surrounding the organization and celebration of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum after it was declared illegal and was suspended by the Constitutional Court of Spain, the passing of laws to override the Constitution of Spain and Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia that were declared illegal and the Catalan declaration of independence on 27 October 2017.
The trial proceedings officially ended on 12 June 2019. A unanimous verdict by the seven judges that tried the case was made public on 14 October 2019. Nine of the 12 accused received prison sentences for the crimes of sedition; of them, four were also found guilty of misuse of public funds. Their sentences ranged from 9 to 13 years. The remaining three accused were found guilty of disobedience and were sentenced to pay a fine but received no prison term. The court dismissed the charges of rebellion. Some of the defendants of the trial have expressed their intention to appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain and the European Court of Human Rights. The verdict delivered by the Supreme Court sparked multiple protests across the region.
In June 2021, the nine jailed leaders were pardoned. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that he pardoned them because it was the best decision for Spain and Catalonia, but did not overturn their bans from holding public office.
In 2023, Pedro Sanchez gave the leaders an amnesty following the negotiations in the aftermath of the 2023 general election, leading to the 2023–2024 Spanish protests against the Amnesty Law.
Background
Catalonia is an autonomous community in Spain, with the capital in Barcelona. As the County of Barcelona, it joined the Crown of Aragon in the 12th century. Within the Crown, Barcelona and the other Catalan counties merged into the Principality of Catalonia. The whole of the Crown of Aragon united at the end of the 15th century with the Crown of Castile. Today, Catalonia is part of modern Spain. The inhabitants of the region are mostly bilingual in Spanish and in Catalan, and have a distinct linguistic, cultural and historical heritage. Despite belonging to Spain, throughout the history of the region, separatist movements have existed at various moments in the past.
On 9 November 2014, a non-binding 2014 Catalan self-determination referendum was held. After the Spanish Government refused to allow a binding referendum, pro-independence parties called for the 2015 Catalan regional election to be considered a plebiscite, with the promise to declare independence in 18 months. Pro-independence parties earned a majority in the Parliament but were backed by less than 50% of the voters. In September 2017, the Parliament of Catalonia approved the Law of the referendum on self-determination of Catalonia, as well as the Law of juridical transition and foundation of the Republic which was to be applied two days after the referendum results were made public and would override the Constitution of Spain and Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia while providing the Parliament with special powers to declare the secession of Catalonia from the Kingdom of Spain. Both laws were declared illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain. The 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which was called by the Generalitat de Catalunya on 1 October 2017, was also suspended by the same court. Despite this ruling, the referendum went ahead. On 10 October 2017, the President of the Catalan Government Carles Puigdemont addressed the Parliament of Catalonia, but did not unambiguously declare independence. On 27 October 2017, the Parliament of Catalonia passed a resolution declaring the independence of Catalonia, but no actions were initiated to enforce it. Hours later, the Government of Spain seized control of the Generalitat, invoking Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution. Subsequently, some of the independence leaders were sent to preventive detention without bail, accused of crimes of rebellion, disobedience, and misuse of public funds. Carles Puigdemont and four members of his cabinet fled into self-exile.
Prosecutors
The prosecution was formed by the State Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office, with the right-wing political party Vox as public prosecutor. The defendants were accused of the crimes of rebellion, disobedience, and misuse of public funds.
- Spanish Attorney General: The prosecutors of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court who drafted the indictment were Javier Zaragoza, Fidel Cadena, Consuelo Madrigal, and Jaime Moreno, maintaining the lawsuit for rebellion filed by José Manuel Maza, former attorney general of the state, in 2017 and the instruction of Judge Pablo Llarena. According to the prosecution's text, "the secessionist plan included the use of all the means necessary to achieve its objective, including - with the certainty that the state would not accept the situation - the violence necessary to ensure the pretentious criminal outcome, using the intimidating force that represented, on the one hand, the tumultuous action deployed with the large mobilizations of citizens instigated and promoted by them, and, on the other, the use of the Mossos d'Esquadra, armed police made up by approximately 17,000 troops who would exclusively abide by their instructions -as was the case- and that, if necessary, they could coercively protect their criminal objectives, thus subtracting the fulfillment of the genuine function of keeping and preserving the constitutional order".
- The State's advocacy body was presented to the cause in March 2018. According to its submitted text, consellers (ministers) Junqueras, Forn, Turull, Romeva, Rull, and Bassa must receive a more serious punishment for their authority status, as responsible parties for having induced, sustained and directed the sedition from its condition of members of the Catalan Government. The rest are accused of having executed the referendum using public funds and of disobedience for having systematically ignored the agreements of the Constitutional Court. The activists Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez are accused of having induced, sustained and directed a crime of sedition. In December 2018, the director of the State's legal service, Consuelo Castro, replaced Edmundo Bal in favour of Rosa Maria Seoane as a representative for the cause.
- Vox: This political party was admitted as a public prosecutor in November 2017 by magistrate Maria Eugènia Alegret, provided they paid a deposit of 20,000 euros. In Spanish law, a private person under certain circumstances can prosecute criminal charges of public importance. According to Vox, a "binding" referendum was promoted and that supposed "a clear attempt to subvert the constitutional order" to "disintegrate the territorial unity of the State", by which they understand the events that occurred as a "subversive attack against the current constitutional order", as a coup strategy to hold an "illegal referendum" on the 1 October 2017. Jordi Cuixart's defense lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court, demanding that the right-wing party be expelled from the proceedings and not be able to participate in the trial. The Supreme Court, despite criticizing "the risk of transferring the political dispute to the legal process", eventually dismissed the appeal. Javier Ortega Smith, lawyer and Secretary-General of Vox, and Pedro Fernández, Vox "Legal Vice-Secretary", will represent the popular action during the trial.
Defendants
There were a total of 18 people being tried within the context of this case. They are listed below in alphabetical order by their last name, indicating the accusation, the conviction requested and the sentence by the Supreme Court.
High Court of Justice of Catalonia
The following six defendants were charged in the instruction of the Supreme Court yet it decided to send their cases to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia:
Audiencia Nacional
In addition, the prosecutor of the Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) is requesting prison time for the former head of the Mossos d'Esquadra, Josep Lluís Trapero, and the rest of the Mossos d'Esquadra command in 2017.
The trial began on 20 January 2020 and due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain it was suspended on 13 March 2020. The Audiencia Nacional resumed the trial on 8 June 2020 and the case was remitted for decision on 17 June.
On 8 June, the public prosecutor reduced the penalty against of Josep Lluís Trapero, Cèsar Puig and Pere Soler from 11 years in prison for rebellion to 10 years in prison for a crime of sedition although he announced that they would accept the disqualification for 10 years for sedition and a fine of 60.000€. Likewise, he maintained the request for 4 years in jail against Teresa Laplana.
Court
The court was formed of seven members in the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Spain, chaired by Manuel Marchena:
- Manuel Marchena (Chair)
- Antonio del Moral García
- Luciano Varela
- Andrés Martínez Arrieta
- Juan Ramón Berdugo Gómez de la Torre
- Ana María Ferrer García
- Andrés Palomo del Arco
In September 2018, five of them (Manuel Marchena, Luciano Varela, Juan Ramon Berdugo, Andres Martinez Arrieta and Antonio del Moral) were recused by six of the defendants. The first four were part of the admission room that processed, on 31 October 2017, the complaint filed by the then Attorney General of the State, José Manuel Maza. One of the grounds for the recusation was that, upon admitting the complaint, these four judges could not guarantee their impartiality, a requirement for all members of the court. The Supreme Court dismissed the challenge and supported their impartiality to prosecute the case.
Witnesses
The Supreme Court approved the participation of more than 300 witnesses and refused the declaration of almost 50 others.
On 27 February 2019, these witnesses were called to testify (in order of appearance):
On 28 February 2019, these witnesses testified (in order of appearance):
On 4 March 2019, these witnesses testified (in order of appearance):
On 5 March 2019, these witnesses testified (in order of appearance):
On 14 March 2019 testified (in order of appearance):
Accusations
The defendants were accused of the following crimes:
Reaction
Pre-trial
On 7 March 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reminded Spanish authorities that "pre-trial detention should be considered a measure of last resort", referring to the Catalan politicians and activists arrested after the independence referendum.
On 15 October 2018, Amnesty International requested the immediate release of the two activists Sánchez and Cuixart (known as the Jordis since they share their first name), stating that the maintenance of provisional detention was unjustified and considering it an excessive and disproportionate restriction of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, although without referring to them as prisoners of conscience. In November 2018, Amnesty International's Campaigns Director for Europe, Fotis Filippou, announced in a letter addressed to the Jordis that he would supervise the trial "to analyze whether the guarantees of a fair trial were met". Days before the beginning of the trial, Amnesty International asked the Court to allow its observers to attend it in order to evaluate that the guarantees of a fair trial were fulfilled. The Supreme Court refused their request arguing that publicly broadcasting the trial was enough.
On 21 November 2018, more than 120 professors and law professors published a letter in the digital newspaper eldiario.es stating that neither the acts of 20 September nor 1 and 3 October 2017 saw the violence required in a crime of rebellion. A group of MEPs stated that they wanted to attend the trial as observers.