Mas: “It’s an honour to be tried for having listened to the people. I’d do it all again”

Former Catalan president Artur Mas states that he “was consistent” with the people’s demands and compares the Spanish government’s reaction to General Franco’s regime

Laia Vicens / Núria Orriols
2 min
Artur Mas ha comparegut al costat d'Irene Rigau, exconsellera d'Ensenyament, i Joana Ortega, exvicepresidenta

Barcelona“They’re looking to turn a celebration of democracy into a massive auto-da-fé”. These were the words of former Catalan president Artur Mas on the day when it was revealed that the public prosecutor is pressing charges that carry a penalty of 10 years without holding public office for having held a non-binding independence vote on November 9, 2014. Mas spoke at his party’s headquarters escorted by his former ministers Irene Rigau and Joana Ortega —who are facing a nine-year suspension— where he stated that “It’s an honour to be tried for having listened to the people and stuck up for them” by holding a non-binding vote on November 9, 2014. “I’d do it all again”, he remarked.

Mas also stated that his actions were merely “consistent” with the people’s demands and he referred to the judicial prosecution of his ministers and himself as “utter nonsense”. “Nothing is more civic and democratic to bring out the ballot boxes so that people can voice their opinion”, he claimed, and he claimed that there is no point in pressing charges against the organisers of a participatory process.

Besides, he emphasised that holding a non-binding vote can never be regarded as a criminal offence. “The 2014 poll was not to decide on Catalan independence”, he said, but “to count how many people were in favour and how many against”.

Mas said that the words of acting Spanish vice president Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría were akin to those “of a minister of General Franco”. Sáenz stated that an offence had been committed on November 9 and she stressed that Mas “is but a member of the public” who is being tried because “nobody is above the law”. “When you ignore the rule of law, there will be consequences”, stated the Spanish vice president.

Mas denounced the “pre-democratic demeanour” of Spanish government and other institutions and he noted that Sáenz’s words “could have been spoken by a minister of Franco” and he called them “a blatant excess” of the vice president’s executive powers. On this point, Mas mentioned how the General Prosecutor took action against the advice of every prosecutor in Catalonia, who were “pressurised” and “forced” to file a complaint against him and his ministers following 9N.

Joana Ortega: “I’d do it all again”

Former Catalan vice president Joana Ortega stood by Mas and, addressing him directly, she said that “the vote on 9N was no crime, but a democratic event”. “I’d do it all again”, she stated, and she recalled that “we did the right thing, obeying the law, with transparency and full democratic guarantees”. Ortega complained that the Spanish state wishes to resolve a political conflict “in the courts of law”.

The Prosecutor’s demands

On Monday it transpired that the Public Prosecutor will ask for a ten-year suspension penalty for Artur Mas and nine years for Ortega and Rigau, a period during which they will be barred from holding any public office. Nearly two years after the complaint was originally filed, prosecutors Francisco Bañeres and Emilio Sánchez Ulled have submitted the charges in writing before Catalonia’s High Court (TSJC).

All Monday there was a string of support messages for the three former officials, starting with Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. “Their shame is our strength. You are not alone”, he wrote on Twitter. All the political parties that support self-determination (PDC, ERC, the CUP and CSQP) agreed that allowing people to vote can never be “a crime”.

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