Junts proposes to Congress to repeal the article that allowed the leaders of the 'procés' to be removed from their seats

The PSOE came to offer the PDeCAT to limit the scope of this precept with new requirements for its application, but there was no agreement.

MADRID, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Junts will defend on Tuesday in the plenary session of Congress a bill to reform the Criminal Procedure Law (LECrim) to repeal the article that allowed Parliament and Congress to strip several leaders of the 'procés' of their acts of deputies while they were prosecuted for the illegal referendum and before having been sentenced.

This is article 384 bis of the LeCrim, which establishes that, "sign an indictment and decree provisional detention for a crime committed by a person integrated into or related to armed gangs or terrorist or rebel individuals, the defendant who is holding office or position public will be automatically suspended in the exercise of the same while the prison situation lasts".

This provision was used in 2018 to strip Raül Romeva, Oriol Junqueras, Josep Rull and Jordi Turull i Negre of their minutes of deputies in the Parliament and a year later the Congress Bureau used it to suspend the last three from their status as deputies and also Jordi Sánchez. And it has also served to suspend other pro-independence politicians from public office.

In the statement of reasons for his initiative, collected by Europa Press, Junts maintains that this precept allows judges to make decisions, even before there is a sentence, which can lead to "irreparable effects".

"Its controversial application to the pro-independence prisoners who were elected in the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia on December 21, 2017 or in the general elections of April 28, 2019 has shown that it can also be a tool in the hands of judges to give course to his political activism and, ultimately, to pursue certain ideas and political activities", argues Carles Puigdemont's party.

Furthermore, they speak of the fact that the law allows "by means of a procedural trick" (the accusation of the crime of rebellion), an investigating judge, without a final sentence, to be able to suspend the functions of public officials, including elected officials, which supposes "a undue judicial interference in the activities and powers" of the Cortes Generales and the autonomous Parliaments, that is, "a serious attack" against the representative principle, the division of powers and, "ultimately, against democracy".

THE PDeCAT ALSO REQUESTS IT

It is not the first time that a formation proposes the repeal of this article, since the PDeCAT has made amendments to two laws. It was last November when amending the Organic Law on organizational efficiency of the public service of Justice and in December during the processing of the reform of the Penal Code that, among other things, put an end to the crime of sedition.

The PSOE did not enter into this point during the debate on the amendments to the penal reform, but it did make an offer to the PDeCAT in the framework of the processing of the procedural efficiency law, which is still being discussed in the Justice Commission of Congress.

Specifically, the PSOE proposed a compromise amendment to limit the scope of article 384 bis of the LeCrim, so that suspension from public office occurs in cases in which the crime for which they are prosecuted is "serious or very severe" and medium "violence or intimidation".

Textually, the amendment offered by the PSOE, to which Europa Press had access, provides that, "without prejudice to what is established in the regulations of the different jobs and public professions", when "the indictment is signed, only The suspension of office or public office may be agreed upon, specifying its scope", when certain requirements are met.

These requirements are "that the crime for which the prosecution is being prosecuted is serious or very serious, carries a penalty of disqualification or suspension of the same nature and has been committed with violence or intimidation", that "the precautionary measure is necessary to prevent the risk of commission of specific criminal acts related to the one who is the object of the process" and that "is requested by the Public Prosecutor or by personal accusation".

The amendment drafted by the PSOE added that, once the adoption of this precautionary measure has been requested, a hearing will be convened to be held within five days of the request for the measure, and to which the defendant must attend, assisted by lawyer, the Public Prosecutor and the other parties.

In this hearing, the proposed text continues, "allegations may be made and the means of proof that can be practiced in the act may be proposed" so that the judge or court decides on "the admissibility or not of the precautionary suspension of office or public office to the obligations inherent to the public position exercised".

According to what parliamentary sources have informed Europa Press, this negotiation has cooled down, the PDeCAT did not finish giving its approval to the PSOE proposal and, therefore, there is still no agreement on this matter.