The former Catalan foreign minister thinks the upcoming trial will be unfair and a farce
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| Raül Romeva in 2015 |
18.01.2019 14:13
The former Catalan foreign minister, Raül Romeva, says that
in the upcoming independence trial he will not acknowledge organising a
referendum as a criminal offense.
“I will not declare myself innocent; I
will deny having committed a crime” Romeva told the Catalan News Agency
from Lledoners prison. He has been in pre-trial jail for almost a year
now.
“I will not deny any of the political acts taken to make
the referendum possible; I will deny considering everything we did a
crime” he said, adding: “What I will deny is the violence that is
attributed to us.”
During the conversation with the Catalan News Agency in a
visiting room in the
penitentiary, Romeva stated that “there is no
possibility for a legal defense” in the trial, due to start in the
coming weeks. For him, it will be “an unfair trial, a farce.” “To think
we will be able to defend ourselves with legal arguments is naïve; what
we can do is to politically defend what we have done, but by no means
defend ourselves” he said.
Stay in prison
Thus the former Catalan foreign minister thinks it is
unlikely they will be freed after the trial. “We use prison to make
politics. They will not let us out of here because we make a lot of
noise, they will get us out when we win” he said, referring to the goal
of independence.
Romeva also had a message for supporters of a Catalan state, asking them to be “the most intelligent, not the bravest.”
Romeva, who is behind bars awaiting trial with eight other
politicians and activists, also talked about the debate surrounding the
Spanish 2019 budget, which needs the support of the pro-independence
parties to pass.
“[The Spanish president Pedro] Sánchez needs a project, not
only a budget” stated Romeva, who made it clear that he agrees with the
reluctance of his party, ERC, to support the Spanish spending plan.
“Without a clear project for freedom and justice, it is
obvious that the authoritarian project is the one that will prevail in
Spain” he told.
“The budget is an opportunity for the Socialists to tackle
Spain’s problem, which is not the political prisoners, but the violation
of fundamental rights, the prisoners are only a symptom,” he added.
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