Spain filed two protest notes against the report of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which has concluded that the detention of three Catalans over their role in the 2017 independence referendum was arbitrary and illegal, saying they contain distorted facts and conflict of interest, the government spokeswoman and acting minister of education, Isabel Celaa, said at a press conference in Madrid on Friday
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2019) Spain filed two protest notes against the report of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which has concluded that the detention of three Catalans over their role in the 2017 independence referendum was arbitrary and illegal, saying they contain distorted facts and conflict of interest, the government spokeswoman and acting minister of education, Isabel Celaa, said at a press conference in Madrid on Friday.On Thursday, the United Nations working group asked the Spanish government to release three Catalans detained over charges on involvement in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, namely the Catalan regional vice president, Oriol Junqueras, and political activists Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, based on the report, published a day earlier and claiming that the detention was arbitrary and illegitimate under international law.
"While supporting the UN special procedures, the Spanish government urges not to allow them become tools of disinformation and manipulation," Celaa said.
According to her statement, Spanish Ambassador in Geneva Cristobal Gonzalez-Aller Jurado has filed two notes verbales to the United Nations on Friday. One requests "revision of the opinion of this group for mistakes and distortion in [the report]," while the other claims "a conflict of interests" of two of the authors, Jose Guevara from Mexico and Seong-Phil Hong from South Korea, who have previously worked with Ben Emmerson, the legal representative of several Catalan politicians.
In October 2017, the Catalan autonomous region voted in a referendum to secede from Spain. The regional government later proclaimed Catalonia's independence, but the Spanish government refused to accept the outcome of the vote and went on to prosecute those who helped organize the vote.
Madrid currently investigates 12 Catalans, including the three mentioned above. The final hearing is set to take place on June 12, after which the court will have to make a decision.
