Spain violated the political rights of Catalan separatist leaders, the United Nations Human Rights Committee said on Wednesday.
The committee reviewed a complaint from four politicians convicted of sedition due to their involvement in an illegal referendum on independence for Catalonia in 2017.
The former Deputy Prime Minister of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, and three ex-ministers were suspended from parliament in July 2018 after being charged and prosecuted for rebellion. The four had been accused of calling for a violent uprising.
During their suspension, they were not allowed to perform public duties.
The UN Human Rights Committee consists of 18 independent experts who assess whether countries respect international, treaty-based civil and political rights.
According to the separatists, their political rights were violated since they were suspended without first being convicted of anything.
The four were found guilty of sedition in 2019. Unlike rebellion, that means they had not incited violence, and their suspension was lifted.
In 2021, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pardoned the separatist leaders, in his own words as a gesture of goodwill.
The UN Human Rights Committee ruled on Wednesday that Spain’s decision to suspend them was not based on reasonable or objective grounds, especially since the separatists had urged their supporters to keep the protests nonviolent.
The Spanish government and courts will not be fined or otherwise punished. However, the UN committee’s judgment is a symbolic victory for Catalan separatists, who still believe Catalonia should be independent from Spain.
