Marcel Mauri: “The position of the Constitutional Court and the bias of judge Marchena in the courthouse show the low democratic quality of the Spanish state”

Òmnium Cultural denounces that it is being criminalized by the Constitutional Court in order to justify the detention without bail of Òmnium’s president Jordi Cuixart. In this regard, he has warned that “we will not succumb to judicial blackmail” and that “none of the threats will make us give up the right to self-determination”. “I don’t want to flee. And let there be no doubt that one of the principles of civil disobedience is to accept one’s actions and their consequences. And we will continue to do so regardless of what the Constitutional Court says”, Cuixart added.

The organization’s vice president, Marcel Mauri, expressed himself in the same regard when he denounced the fact that “an institution such as the Constitutional Court would place itself at the service of the investigation against the Catalan sovereignty movement and against fundamental rights, and would criminalize an association with over 165,000 members as is Òmnium Cultural, all in order to justify an abuse”.

The vice president of Òmnium Cultural added that both the position of the Constitutional Court in rejecting Cuixart’s freedom once again, as well as the attitude of judge Manuel Marchena, who prevented Òmnium’s lawyers from questioning their witnesses “show the low democratic quality of the Spanish state”.

Òmnium Cultural expresses complete disagreement with Marchena’s behaviour during the testimonies proposed by Cuixart’s defence. The organization considers that Marchena violates the right to defence when he constantly interrupts witnesses’ statements and censors questions and answers with restrictive criteria in comparison with the testimonies of the prosecution. All of the defence’s witnesses are related either with the writ of defence or the indictments that had been previously admitted by the courthouse.

Because of all this, this organization reaffirms that its commitment to defending fundamental rights is incorruptible. The proceedings against Cuixart are an attack against civil society and his trial represents a redefinition of the limits of fundamental rights.