Catalan Trial: Day 43 summary

Day 43 and week 14 of the Catalan Trial at Spain’s Supreme Court started with further testimonies from citizens who voted in the Catalan referendum of 1 October 2017, followed by a declaration from Mireia Boya, an activist and former MP of the pro-independence CUP party. She was scheduled to only give a partial testimony as she is being prosecuted in a related case in Catalonia.

Catalan Trial: click here full details of those accused, the charges, and the accusers.

Speaking of the protest on 20 September 2017 outside the Catalan Economy Department, Mireia Boya told the court that she had argued with former Catalan National Assembly (ANC) leader Jordi Sànchez over whether to call the protest off or not.

Boya said she believed in the right of the people to manifest their discontent and initially disagreed with Sanchez’ view that the protest should be ended, but then agreed they would have the opportunity to protest over the coming days.

Boya described a ‘party atmosphere’ at the demo outside the Catalan finance ministry for which two activists face rebellion charges. She said it was ‘easy to get to the door’.

ALSO READ: Jordi Sànchez: ‘Nothing we’ve seen in our trial justifies prison’

When the ex-MP heard that Spanish police had arrived outside the CUP building in Barcelona, she said she went there to ‘defend’ the far-left party’s headquarters. She stayed for eight hours.

She said the Spanish police did not enter the CUP headquarters because ‘they didn’t have a court order’. The officers withdrew around 8pm ‘with no incidents’. She said a Spanish police car was damaged but denied climbing up on it and said she used a lectern to ask the crowd to avoid causing trouble.

Mireia Boya testifying in the Supreme Court on 13 May 2019, alongside her lawyer.

Francesc Esteve, the head of the Catalan government’s legal department, testified that he was not aware of any irregular payments made by the Catalan government for the referendum, and even stated that if he had known of any illegal activity he would have warned members of government and informed the judicial authority.

ALSO READ: Jailed Catalans request release to be sworn in as MPs

He also told the court that the IT department shut down 26 of the 27 computer systems that had been banned by Spanish courts before 1 October.

Head of the Catalan government’s public procurement, Mercè Corretja, testified that she had personally searched the public contracts registry various times in case she came across any referendum-related government payments and said that she hadn’t found anything at all.

Corretja also reminded the court that Catalan government accounts had been blocked by Spain 15 days prior to the vote.

In the afternoon, Nuria Cuenca, the head of education department in the Catalan government, was one of the those who testified. She said she didn’t know how many schools were used as polling stations for the referendum but estimated the damage done by Spanish police at 268,000 euros.

Catalan Trial: click here full details of those accused, the charges, and the accusers.

Click here for all articles and updates on the Catalan Trial

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 42 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 41 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 40 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 39 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 38 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 37 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 36 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 35 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 34 summary

ALSO READ: Catalan Trial: Day 33 summary