Torra: ¡°We will not resign ourselves to rulings that would bring more pain¡±

Spain¡¯s political agenda in the coming months will be marked by the trial of several Catalan politicians for rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds in connection with last year¡¯s unilateral independence attempt. On Tuesday, Catalan premier Quim Torra, a hardline separatist, gave a speech outlining his plans and views on the case, stressing that he will not accept a conviction yet failing to explain how he would facilitate disobeying the courts.

Torra insisted on the need for a new, binding referendum and on keeping communication channels with Madrid open. He also asked citizens inside and outside Catalonia to stage public demonstrations ¡°in defense of rights and freedoms,¡± and underscored that separatists ¡°have renounced nothing.¡±

The Torra administration is viewing the upcoming trial as a litmus test for Spanish PM Pedro S¨¢nchez

¡°Our voice will be the voice of the people on trial,¡± said Torra in a speech that lasted a little over an hour inside a packed National Theater in Barcelona.

¡°The crimes that our colleagues are accused of are non-existent. Voting is not a crime,¡± he said, alluding to an illegal independence referendum held on October 1 in defiance of the Spanish Constitution.

When separatist parties in the Catalan parliament passed a unilateral declaration of independence later that month, Spain¡¯s central government used a constitutional tool to remove the entire Catalan government from office. Former premier Carles Puigdemont and several officials fled Spain to avoid arrest, while other pro-independence leaders who remained behind were placed in pre-trial custody without bail on the basis that they could re-offend, and that, like their colleagues, they posed a flight risk.

¡°We will not resign ourselves to unfair rulings that would only bring more pain, more conflict. Nothing can ever be built on the back of humiliation,¡± said Torra, warning that a court decision unfavorable to the interests of the pro-independence movement would be even ¡°more serious¡± than the 2010 Constitutional Court¡¯s decision to cut back parts of the Catalan regional charter, known as the Estatut, or Statute.

Torra ¨C who is not facing trial himself ¨C did not specify how it might be possible to disobey an unfavorable court ruling. ¡°I will analyze the decisions to undertake, and will put myself at the disposal of the people of Catalonia through their legitimate representatives in parliament,¡± he said.

The Torra administration is viewing the upcoming trial as a litmus test for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S¨¢nchez, who pledged to improve relations with Catalonia when he took office on June 1 after winning a no-confidence motion against Mariano Rajoy with the support of Catalan separatist parties, among others.

But Torra has stopped short of demanding that S¨¢nchez try to influence prosecutors involved in the trial, as his own deputy Pere Aragon¨¦s recently requested in public. The transcript of Torra¡¯s speech, as distributed by the Catalan government, included a reference about ¡°a good-faith negotiation that includes the release of political prisoners and the free return of exiles,¡± but Torra omitted this sentence during his live address.

The Catalan leader insisted on the need for a new, binding referendum on self-determination, and said that if this does not happen, he will pursue the mandate derived from the October 1 referendum, which the Constitutional Court declared illegal and which most non-separatist Catalans did not participate in.

Torra¡¯s appeal for citizens to demonstrate comes shortly before the Diada, or Catalonia Day, which is held on September 11 and has been used in recent years as a showcase of pro-independence sentiment.

English version by Susana Urra.