The Spanish Supreme Court meets Thursday, September 17 in Madrid to study the appeal of the Catalan independentist regional president, Quim Torra, against his conviction for disobedience which, if confirmed, would result in his dismissal.
The hearing is to be held from 12:00 (10:00 GMT) in the presence of Quim Torra.
The court did not say when it would render its decision.
Read also: Where is the crisis between Catalonia and Spain?
Sentenced in December at first instance to one and a half years of ineligibility, the president of the “
Generalitat
” has already suggested that he might not respect the sentence of the highest Spanish judicial body.
The case dates back to March 2019. Quim Torra then refused to obey the orders of the electoral authority, which demanded that he remove separatist emblems from the facade of the seat of the regional government, during the campaign for legislative elections.
"
Yes, I disobeyed
", admitted Quim Torra during his trial.
"
But that's because it was impossible to obey an illegal order
," he added, taking advantage of freedom of expression.
A confirmation of his conviction by the Supreme Court, and the subsequent dismissal, would cause a political crisis in Catalonia, where the independence movement has been deeply divided since the failure of the 2017 secession attempt.
Tensions between Quim Torra's party, Ensemble pour la Catalogne, and Gauche Républicaine de Catalogne (ERC), its partner in the regional executive, led to the announcement of early regional elections in January, but no date was announced. 'has still been fixed due to the pandemic.
The repercussions could even extend to national politics, the Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez having been returned to power in January thanks to the support of ERC in exchange for the establishment of a dialogue on the Catalan crisis.
This dialogue, interrupted since the start of the pandemic, should resume soon, he promised.
If his appeal is rejected, Quim Torra could bring the case before the Constitutional Court.
This appeal would therefore not be suspensive, and the dismissal would therefore be effective.
