They urge Spain to release Catalan leaders | …

A United Nations (UN) working group on Wednesday called for the immediate release of Catalan separatist leaders in prison, in a report called into question by the Spanish government. The Working Group on arbitrary detention of the international organization believes that the preventive detention of the Catalan leaders Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart is contrary to human rights. At the beginning of last year, the three men were heard by this body which, in its conclusions, urges Spain to launch a "thorough and independent investigation" on the circumstances of the "arbitrary deprivation of liberty" "of the accused.

The British lawyer representing Catalan politicians, Ben Emmerson, said at a press conference in London that the Spanish government should not ignore the communication from the working group. If this is the case, "he will commit a continuous and flagrant violation of international law," said the lawyer, who defended in other cases the founder of Wikileaks leak portal, Julian Assange .

The Spanish executive, meanwhile, transferred to the UN his "discomfort" regarding the report and asked for an audit on the functioning of the working group that published it, according to the Spanish ambbadador in the British capital, Carlos Bastarreche. . The diplomat said, during a meeting with media from various European countries residing in London, that the communication of the working group supposed "manifest interference" in the judicial process followed by the organization of the organization. an independence referendum in 2017. declared illegal. He also expressed his "concern" about "the use of a UN group" in what he considers "a misinformation campaign".

Sources of the Spanish executive questioned the impartiality of the document, saying its editors did not know the crimes alleged against the leaders of independence, including those of disobedience, embezzlement and rebellion that can result in 17 and 25 years in prison. These sources claim that the working group believes that in Spain the call for a referendum on independence is legal and criticize the fact that the authors do not take into account the "principle of separation of powers or the independence of justice ".

The document issued yesterday asks the government to provide information on the follow-up measures it intends to put in place with regard to the "recommendations" it has formulated. The group requests the executive to provide this information within six months from the date of transmission of this notice, although it reserves the right to conduct its own follow-up if new concerns arise. are reported to him. relationship with the case.

For Emmerson, the report is the "last word" of a group protected by UN authority in order to interpret the obligations established by international law. "If the Madrid judges sentence them to jail time, even if they last a week, Spain will be on the road to a collision with the United Nations," he said. l & # 39; lawyer.

The document made public yesterday "is a flagrant violation of the rights of Catalan leaders," said the president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Elisenda Paluzie.

The text of the working group was circulated after the European Court of Human Rights dismissed a complaint of the former Catalan president, Puigdemont, against the Constitutional Court's decision to annul the plenary session of the Parliament of 9 October 2017, in which to declare the independence of Catalonia.