Catalonia: Controversy about independence referendum

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns the government of Spain not to arrest the Catalan Prime Minister Carles Puigdemont. In an interview, Spain’s Chief Prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, stated that an arrest of the most important representative of the Catalan regional government was not out of the question. “In the context of the controversy about the independence referendum, the Spanish government is relying on intimidation and repression instead of dialogue and political initiatives to solve the conflict. This is extremely unsatisfactory for a democracy – an evidence of incapacity. Repression will have the opposite effect, and even more Catalans will vote in favor of an independent state,” explained Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Tuesday.

The human rights organization strongly criticized that, yesterday, 17 employees of non-governmental organizations were summoned by the police for interrogation. They are accused of using the organizations’ websites to promote the independence referendum, which is scheduled for October 1, 2017. “This is a serious violation of the right to freedom of opinion, the freedom of the press, and freedom of organization. The Catalans are being treated arbitrarily, reminding them of the Franco dictatorship,” Delius explained.

On September 20, 2017, the police had already arrested 14 Catalan officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations who were accused of supporting the referendum. They were released shortly after, but six of them are still under police surveillance.

“The Spanish government is relying on intimidation rather than trying to enter a dialogue about a reform of the Statute of Autonomy, which Madrid has blocked for many years,” said Delius. Another move in this direction is a payment summons to the former Catalan Prime Minister Artur Mas. The Spanish Audit Court decided that Mas will have to pay 5.2 million Euros to the Spanish state during the next 15 years – to cover the Spanish state’s costs in connection with the independence referendum of November 2014, which had been declared illegal. If Mas refuses to pay, the Spanish state might confiscate his private savings as well as that of three other formers members of his government; Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs, and Irene Rigau. 

Headerphoto: Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya via Flickr