Ex-Catalan leader barred from holding office for 15 months over separatist symbols

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

​​​​​​​ANKARA (AA) - A Spanish judge on Wednesday barred a former Catalan president from holding office for 15 months for refusing to remove a banner seen as a separatist symbol.

This is the second time Quim Torra has been convicted for refusing to take down yellow ribbons saying "free political prisoners and exiles" from public buildings in the runup to the March 2019 regional elections.

The display of yellow ribbons, which have come to symbolize support for Catalan leaders jailed or exiled following a failed 2017 independence bid, and the unofficial flag of Catalan separatists, the estelada, are considered a violation of Spain’s electoral laws.

The Superior Court of Catalonia in Barcelona also imposed an eight-month fine on Torra cumulatively totaling €24,000 ($25,260).

Torra immediately slammed the ruling, saying he will appeal it.

"It is a sentence induced by the desire for revenge of the judges who act as the political arm of the Spanish state in Catalonia. Where they do not go with the ballot box, they go with the state apparatus, against all sense and democratic rigor," he said.

He claimed that fundamental rights "are not guaranteed to pro-independence activists" in Spain, adding that "the initiative must be resumed. Independence is more urgent than ever."

"We will go to Europe to defend my case. But the most important thing is to regain the path to independence," he added.

Torra was ousted from his post as president of Catalonia in September 2020 and also fined €30,000 ($31,583).

The electoral board said the independence symbols were "tools of political propaganda" and gave Torra 48 hours to remove them, but he refused.

The former president tried to appeal the decision to Spain’s Supreme Court, but the court refused to hear the case. The court was unanimous in its decision, writing that "he repeatedly and stubbornly disobeyed the electoral board’s orders."

Carles Puigdemont, whom Torra replaced in 2018, was ousted by the Spanish government after an illegal vote on independence and subsequent declaration of independence. He fled the country shortly after and remains in exile in Belgium.