Time.news – The Spanish government will forgive the nine Catalan separatist leaders jailed for the 2017 secession attempt. This was announced by the premier, Pedro Sanchez, during a ceremony in Barcelona. A measure, he said, “necessary” for coexistence, which he trusts will change history and bring millions of people closer to reconciliation.
The announcement
Sanchez made the announcement, which was still in the air, in the conference he gave at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, in front of about 300 representatives of Catalan civil society, absent the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragones, and the members of his government. The government had given great importance to the event, called “Reunion: a project for the future of Spain”, and around this idea revolved the intervention, which lasted just under half an hour, in which the premier stressed the need to address the problem.
“We will do it for harmony. We will do it with our hearts”, he explained to the applause of the participants. The nine independence leaders had been sentenced to sentences of between nine and 13 years in prison in October 2019. “Someone has to take the first step: the Spanish government is doing it now,” Sanchez continued. “Amnesty, amnesty”, however, shouted some present, to which Sanchez responded by defending the choice of the pardon, with which the former vice president of the regional government, Oriol Junqueras, will be released from prison, among others.
The separatists ask for amnesty
The separatists ask for amnesty as they believe that there has been no crime by organizing a referendum and, therefore, there is no reason to grant a pardon. But the Madrid government wants to give a sensational message of harmony and coexistence. “The decision does not concern only these nine people, it is aimed at the whole Catalan and Spanish society: it is a message for thousands of people who have supported them, support and feel solidarity with them. With this act we materially release nine people from prison, but symbolically we add millions and millions of people to the coexistence “.
Although he admitted that he does not think that those who aspire to independence will change their ideals, the premier confided that they understand that there are no ways outside the law and that the constitutional pact must be adhered to. The premier also speculated that there are people opposed to the provision and whose reasons he understands, but he claimed the reasons of those who defend it. This is why he opted for the path of “reconciliation”, a “big step” that according to him “will give everyone the opportunity to start over and do things better”.
“New answers”
For Sanchez “all that remains is to start over”, resume political dialogue, “find new answers”. “We can’t start from scratch, but we can start over. There is a way. Tomorrow we can change the lives of nine people. And I also hope that we will start changing everyone’s history.” A proposal to “make way for a new country project”, a “new Spain” that cannot be conceived without Catalonia at the helm.
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