A politicized Prosecutor's Office
BarcelonaIn the Spanish legal system, the Public Prosecutor's Office is an institution that is responsible for promoting justice and, in trials, accuses on behalf of the people, that is, the common interest. As such, it is not part of the judicial career and is organized in such a way that it depends hierarchically on a position appointed by the Spanish government, the Attorney General's Office. The Prosecutor's Office, however, seems to have enthusiastically joined the pulse of the Spanish judiciary with the executive of Pedro Sánchez, and a good example of this are the reports in which they reject the granting of a possible pardon to those convicted in the trial of the Catalan independence bid.
Far from being merely technical and objective, the reports come across as a revenge against the Catalan political prisoners, and appear to be inspired in a retrograde conception of the law. The four prosecutors who sign the reports, which are the same as the ones from the trial, do not even limit themselves to the content of the Supreme Court sentence but insist on their account of violence ("violent agitation in the street"), they consider that the facts "go beyond" the crime of sedition, ignore the National High Court sentence in police mayor Trapero's trial, and affirm that the Mossos' plan for October 1 "lacked sense", they believe the Catalan prison administration is guilty of having granted open prison regime to the prisoners (they consider it a "mockery") and, last but not least, they claim that a pardon would harm all Spaniards "and especially those who, being Catalans, have believed and still believe in the orderly validity of the democratic political model established in 1978".
In other words, the decision was taken to protect Catalans who defended the 78 regime and were against the granting of pardons, which according to the polls account for a 20% of the total. With what authority can these prosecutors become spokespersons for a Catalan society that, election after election, shows that it rejects the actions of the Spanish justice system in this particular case, and advocates a thorough reform of the Spanish constitutional model?
Nevertheless, these prosecutors go further, since they warn that the granting of pardons cannot be a "bargaining chip" to receive parliamentary support. They thus alienate themselves from the thesis of the right wing according to which all of this would be nothing more than a concession to ERC for its budget support. Since when has the Public Prosecutor's Office had to enter into assessing what happens in another State power, in this case, the legislative one? Do they not realize that they are questioning the role granted to them by the Constitution they claim to defend so much?
The situation is critical for the Spanish government and calls for determined and firm action. Firstly, by accepting the granting of pardons, since this is the quickest way to free the prisoners and thus make progress in the negotiated resolution of the political conflict and the normalisation of coexistence in Catalonia and throughout the State. And, secondly, by tackling an urgent reform of the public prosecutor's office and the judiciary to depoliticise them and bring them into line with those of the rest of the EU.
