Spain: Supreme court removes Catalonia's regional boss Quim Torra

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Quim Torra must finally resign his office as Catalan regional president

Photo: ALBERT GEA / REUTERS

The Spanish judiciary has dismissed the head of government of the conflict region of Catalonia, Quim Torra, for disobedience.

The Supreme Court (TSJ) upheld a corresponding ruling by the Catalan Higher Regional Court last December, according to which Torra cannot hold public office for a year and a half.

The background is a legal dispute from last year: Before the Spanish parliamentary elections on April 28 of last year, Torra refused to remove symbols of the independence movement from his government's headquarters in Barcelona and other public buildings, even though the electoral authority had ordered this.

He was then convicted of "disobedience" and deposed.

Torra had appealed against it and was allowed to keep his position for the duration of the proceedings.

The TSJ has now unanimously confirmed the verdict, according to the AFP news agency.

Torra's refusal to have a "separatist" banner removed "repeatedly and stubbornly" disregarded an order from the electoral authority, the judges said.

Torra should give up office immediately - and pay a fine of 30,000 euros

The judgment will take effect immediately, Torra must immediately hand over his office to his deputy, Pere Aragonès, it said.

In addition, Torra was fined € 30,000.

Observers fear that the impeachment of the 57-year-old in the middle of the corona crisis and three years after the independence referendum on October 1, 2017, which was declared illegal, will lead to a new and dangerous escalation of the Catalonia conflict.

Various separatist parties and organizations called for protests.

In Catalonia there is now great uncertainty, commented the Spanish state television broadcaster RTVE.

Torra wants to go to European courts

"Some judges have decided that I can no longer be President of Catalonia. I want to tell you that no unjust law or revenge can defeat democracy," said Torra.

He will initiate a process in the European courts.

"Only there can we Catalan separatists find justice," he said.

Meanwhile, the verdict was not only criticized by spokesmen for separatist and left-wing parties.

The university minister of the central government, the respected sociologist Manuel Castells, described the decision of the judiciary as a "provocation" in "an already very complicated situation". 

It is certain that Aragonès will call new elections in early 2021 immediately after Torras leaves.

Torra called on voters on Monday to turn the early election into a referendum on secession from Spain.

Almost a year ago the Supreme Court sentenced nine separatist leaders to long prison terms of up to 13 years in the course of the illegal referendum.

After the verdicts were announced, there were protests and unrest in Barcelona that lasted for days.

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fek / dpa / AFP