The Barcelona Court annuls the acquittal of the five 'electoral trustees' of the 1-O referendum

The Barcelona Court has annulled the acquittal of the five

of the illegal independence referendum of 1-O, in 2017, prosecuted for disobedience and asks to repeat the trial, as requested by the Prosecutor's Office.

The magistrate of the Criminal Court 11 of Barcelona had acquitted the five

of the crimes of disobedience and usurpation of public functions, not considering it proven that they had disobeyed the orders of the Constitutional Court.

The five

are Jordi Matas, Professor of Political Science at the University of Barcelona (UB), who chaired the receivership;

the professor of Political Science at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and current councilor Tània Verge;

the professor of Administrative Law at the UB Marc Marsal;

the professor of Constitutional Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) Josep Pagès and the lawyer Marta Alsina.

They were appointed by the Catalan Parliament to control the validity of the 2017 referendum. The Electoral Commission was created by the Generalitat in the image and likeness of the Central Electoral Board to thus give it the appearance of a body that would give guarantees and neutrality to the referendum. .

In the sentence that acquitted them, the magistrate did not see evidence that the trustees "gave any instruction or order or that they met again after the orders issued by the Constitutional Court."

At the hearing of the first trial, the defendants denied having disobeyed the orders of the Constitutional Court that suspended the so-called "disconnection laws" on the grounds that they had resigned from the position days before the referendum.

In the sentence, the judge ruled that it was not sufficiently proven that "the defendants acted, met, processed, made agreements" to apply the referendum law after the Constitutional Court warned them of their duty to prevent 1-O.

The Prosecutor's Office filed an appeal considering that the magistrate had not correctly assessed the evidence.

The sentence also did not consider it proven that they "carried out acts of an authority or eluded the suspension" of the disconnection laws, as accused by the Prosecutor's Office, which demanded a sentence of up to two years and nine months in prison.

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