The U.S. is not the first American state where an increasingly broad public is paying close attention to how the European Union is behaving regarding political prisoners in Spain. In a detailed article in the New York Times of 4 May 2021 entitled «Criminal or Martyr: Prisoner Poses a Political Dilemma for Spain», Nicholas Casey focuses on the case of one of the political prisoners, Jordi Cuixart, who, according to the competent body of the United Nations, should be released immediately, as should other prominent Catalan political prisoners, while Spain has been called upon to launch an immediate criminal investigation against all those involved in the unlawful deprivation of his liberty:

United Nations Human Rights: Office of the High Commissioner: Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its 84th session: Opinion 6/2019 (Spain).

He precisely identifies the problem that Spain's political prisoners pose for the entire European Union:

«To many, Mr. Cuixart and eight others jailed for sedition are now martyrs who, according to human rights groups, are being held for nothing more than voicing and acting on their political views.

For the Spanish government — and for Europe as a whole — they have also become a diplomatic headache, raising accusations of hypocrisy against a region known for demanding greater democratic freedoms around the world.

Russia this year cited the Catalonian inmates to deflect calls from Europe for the release of Aleksei A. Navalny, the Russian opposition leader. The United States lists the prisoners in its human rights report on Spain and calls their jailing a form of political intimidation.

Even lawmakers in the European Union, which Spain is a member of, have raised their plight. When the bloc discussed holding Hungary and Poland accountable to E.U. rule-of-law standards, some European lawmakers noted a double standard: Spain, they said, held political prisoners.»

(Source: Nicholas Casey: «Criminal or Martyr? Prisoner Poses a Political Dilemma for Spain», The New York Times, 4. 5. 2021).

This is now seen to be the case in many countries around the world. As another example, the well-known Indian journalist M. D. Nalapat quotes an extract from a recent article in the Indian Sunday Guardian (Delhi and Mumbai), of which he is the editorial director:

«In Spain, seeking to snuff out a powerful movement for cultural and linguistic autonomy in Catalonia through the use of police methods should not be attempted, especially in Europe. This is a continent that has suffered much as a consequence of internecine conflict during the previous century. Denial of the freedom of Catalans to determine their own future makes a mockery of the very foundation of the EU, which is equal rights (including presumably of self-determination) for all. Election results in Catalonia, despite a substantial portion of the voters being from other parts of Spain, indicate that a majority of the Catalan people favour independence from Spain in view of their distinctive traditions, customs, language and culture. Keeping the lid on such desires through the enforcement of federal law may create the conditions for an Ulster-style uprising that would be against the interest of Spain.»

(Source: M. D. Nalapat: «Catalonia not threat but an opportunity to EU», in: Sunday Guardian Live, 24. 4. 2021 [update]).

For several years, the European Union has betrayed the human rights of its Catalan citizens and treated them as second-class citizens. As a result, it has lost massive international credibility, as never before in its history, and was rightly accused of double standards in human rights issues by the foreign minister of the Russian Federation, among others. Now criticism of the European Union's «double standards» is growing louder in the English-speaking world as well. Those who are of the past may, in a blinded misjudgement of binding international law, want to place the principle of uti possidetis above the iron principles of the universality, inalienability and indivisibility of human rights. On the other hand, those who have learned their lessons from the German, Italian, Spanish and European history of the 20th century will respect the mandatory law of the two major human rights covenants of the United Nations.

Europe remains silent and looks away, but in the U.S.A. they look and name Europe's shame!