13.03.2017 - 16:21
“I accept this sentence calmly, but with absolute disconformity”, said former Catalan President, Artur Mas after Catalonia’s Supreme Court sentenced him to a two-year ban from holding public office for allowing the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. Mas appeared before the press alongside former Vice president Joana Ortega and former Education Minister Irene Rigau, who have also been banned from taking public office for a period of 1 year and 9 months and 1 year and 6 months respectively. “We don’t regret anything, we are democrats and therefore our main duty is to obey the mandate of the people and act accordingly”, said Mas and announced that the sentence will be appealed “to the European justice system as the last resort”. A procedure, he nuanced, that “will have to start with the Spanish Supreme Court first and go to the Spanish Constitutional Court later”. However, he admitted having “little faith” in the Spanish justice system, since it has been proved that “the law is not the same for everybody”.
“The Spanish State prosecutes people because of their ideology”, he said and pointed out that he, Ortega and Rigau “have been sentenced for disobeying the TC”. “This sentence is not appropriate, it is not what you could expect from a real democracy” he lamented and considered Spanish democracy of being “amputated”.
Mas emphasised that “the sentence is not firm” and although he admitted having “little hope” on the Spanish justice he announced that the accused will appeal the resolution. “We don’t expect the Spanish Supreme Court to admit it but we have greater trust in the European justice” he said. “We have to follow the correct procedure to reach the court in Strasbourg”, he said.
“Millions of people told us to go ahead and turn their will into ballot boxes”, he said, referring to the 9-N symbolic vote on independence his government allowed to take place in 2014. “We don’t regret anything, we are democrats and therefore our main duty is to obey the mandate of the people and act accordingly” stated Mas and called for the Catalan citizens and institutions “not to let themselves be impressed by these kind of sentences”. He called them to “go ahead” since Catalonia “is on the right path”. “They wanted us to bow and they have found us standing, again”, he said.
“What kind of democracy do we want? What kind of democracy are we deconstructing?” former Education Minister Irene Rigau rhetorically asked. “We are going backwards”, she lamented. In a similar sense, the other summonsed, former Vice president Joana Ortega assured to be “sad” for the sentence over 9-N but insisted that she will do the same.
