Scandal in Spain: former Vice-President of the Catalan Parliament arrested in violation of his fundamental rights

On the fourth anniversary of Catalonia's declaration of independence, the Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya (TSJC) had the former vice-president of the Catalan parliament, Josep Costa, arrested for "insubordination". The arrest was made at the request of the neo-fascist party Vox. There is no basis in Spanish law for this arrest. It violates the fundamental right to liberty, parliamentary immunity, the right to refuse to testify and the right to a fair trial of the former vice-president of the Catalan parliament, and thus violates both the mandatory international law of the United Nations human rights covenants and Spanish law. If Spain were a functioning constitutional state with a proper separation of powers, this arrest should have criminal consequences for those responsible. Throughout the European Union there should be an outcry of protest against this unjustified arrest of an honourable and blameless politician!

On the afternoon of 27 October 2021, Josep Costa was released on the basis of a plea by his lawyers and immediately announced that he would sue the responsible judge, Maria Eugènia Alegret, for his illegal detention.

The Catalan declaration of independence on 27 October 2017 did not contradict international law, but was based on the first human right of the two major human rights covenants of the United Nations, which are mandatory law in Spain and precede other legal norms of the Spanish legal system. The declaration of independence and its realisation are to be separated. No Spanish court, no Spanish institution has the legal power to revoke or annul the declaration of independence of the Catalan people. A revocation could only be done by the Catalan parliament as the elected representation of the Catalan people. The fact that the arrest of the prominent Catalan took place on the anniversary of the Catalan declaration of independence must be seen as a further provocation by the Spanish state, which is obviously interested in escalating the conflict between Spain and Catalonia in order to obtain a pretext for the deployment of the Spanish military and other Spanish police forces in Catalonia.