Laura Borras, leader of the Catalan independence party of Carles Puigdemont, was sentenced this Thursday to 4 and a half years in prison by a Barcelona court, for having awarded a series of contracts to one of her former collaborators.
This court, however, proposed to the government to partially pardon her in order to reduce her sentence and thus avoid going to prison.
“
The court sentences Laura Borras to four and a half years in prison for forgery and use of forgery and nine years of ineligibility
,” announced the Superior Court of Catalonia (North-East) in a press release.
A “partial pardon”
This sentence is less than that of six years in prison and 21 years of ineligibility required by the prosecution, which accused the independence leader of having awarded a series of contracts totaling some 300,000 euros to one of his former collaborators when she was the head of a regional public institution between 2013 and 2018.
Since Laura Borras was not looking for a "
personal benefit
", the court proposed to the Spanish government to grant her a "
partial pardon
" in order to reduce her sentence to two years in prison, which would allow her to avoid being incarcerated.
In Spain, people sentenced to terms of up to two years in prison are generally not imprisoned.
A “legal aberration”
The 52-year-old leader, who has always maintained her innocence, called her conviction a "
judicial aberration
" and accused the courts of having condemned her because of her fight for the independence of this rich region of the northeast. from Spain.
"
This condemnation would never have been pronounced if I were not who I am and did not represent what I represent
", but that "will not
prevent me from continuing to work (...) for the independence of Catalonia
,” she said.
Laura Borras is a representative of the hard wing of Catalan separatism, very critical of the dialogue of the current Catalan regional government with Madrid.
His indictment in this case led to his suspension from his post as President of the Regional Parliament in July 2022. The beneficiary of the contracts was sentenced to two years in prison and a third defendant, an entrepreneur involved in the case, to a year and two months in prison.
The two had admitted their guilt in exchange for reduced sentences as part of an agreement with the prosecution.
