UN calls for release of jailed Catalan pro-independence leaders and the right to compesation

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for the immediate release of three imprisoned pro-independence leaders: activists Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, and former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras. The report concludes their detention was “arbitrary”, adding: “The working group considers that, given the circumstances of the case, the correct solution would be to free Cuixart, Sànchez and Junqueras immediately and offer them the right to obtain compensation and other forms of reparation in accordance with international law.”

The report asks for compensation for all three and considers their detention and imprisonment to be a violation of fundamental rights, especially freedom of speech. Ben Emmerson QC, the British barrister representing three of the detained Catalan MPs, said: “This decision should mark a turning point in Spanish policy towards Catalonia. Spain is acting in flagrant violation of international law, and it had been called out by the UN body with ultimate authority on the question of arbitrary detention."

“If Spain does not immediately release all the political prisoners, and sit down at the negotiating table, the government in Madrid will soon find itself struggling against the tide of international public opinion. The Spanish government needs to shake off the authoritarian instincts that are a hangover from Franco’s enduring dictatorship, and move very rapidly into the 21st century. Modern democracies do not lock up democratically elected politicians simply because they argue for independence. That is the hallmark of repressive regimes, and has no place in the European democratic order.”

Sànchez, Cuixart and Junqueras were the first jailed leaders to take their cases to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in February 2018, with other incarcerated officials later joining the request – thus the United Nations institution, dependent on the UN Human Rights Council, has so far only ruled on Sànchez, Cuixart and Junqueras.

Their defense in this international cause is led by lawyer Ben Emmerson, specializing in human rights and international criminal law. Throughout his career, he has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the International Criminal Court in the Hague and the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Carles Puigdemont, Catalan president who is exiled in Belgium and MEP, said that "to have political prisoners detained in abusive conditions, and to have the UN to tell you that, is a complete rejection of the narrative that Spain is a model democracy. Violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a shame for a country in the European Union," added Puigdemont.