First mayor to be tried by Independence bid acquitted

Montserrat Mindan, mayor of JxCat in Roses, was facing a year of disqualification for disobedience

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L'alcaldessa de Roses, Montse Mindan, i el seu advocat, Joan Ramon Puig, entrant als jutjats de Figueres aquest 17 de novembre del 2020

BarcelonaFigueres Criminal Court No. 1 has acquitted the Mayor of Roses, Montserrat Mindan, who was tried following the Catalan Independence bid. This is the first acquittal for a mayor prosecuted for their support and collaboration with the 2017 referendum. The Prosecutor's Office accused her of the crime of disobedience to the Constitutional Court for having allowed the consultation and was seeking Mindan to be barred from office for one year. Of the approximately 700 mayors accused of the same acts - most of whom were identified by former State Prosecutor José Manuel Maza-, Mindan (JxCat) was the first to sit in the dock after being denounced by a resident of the town. Despite the fact that the judge had initially shelved the case, a Girona Court ordered it to be reopened and now, finally, it has ended in an acquittal.

In the sentence, which is not yet final, the court of Figueres concludes that it is not proved that the mayor gave "express or tacit orders" to contravene the resolution of the Constitutional Court that ordered her to prevent the referendum. The judge does not see evidence that Mindan facilitated the opening of municipally-owned premises to be used as voting centers. Nor does she believe that she opened the Town Hall or gave the key to another councillor so that the consultation could go ahead, nor that, with "the intention of disregarding the requirements of the Constitutional Court", she supported or facilitated the opening of the Els Grecs school.

During the trial, which took place in November, Mindan claimed that at no time did she do anything to facilitate the opening of the municipal premises for the referendum and denied, for example, opening the Els Grecs school or the Town Hall, or ordering someone else to do it. The neighbour who brought her to court in fact admitted that the complaint he filed was based on images taken from social networks. The mayor's defence asked for an acquittal and stressed that there was "nothing objective" to prove that Mindan facilitated the opening of the schools.

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