Last Friday, the President of the Government warned that there is not a sufficient majority in Congress to modify the penalties for the crime of sedition, a demand by Esquerra that at times the Republicans have linked to their support for the 2023 general state budgets. affirmation that from Esquerra reject. But the question is what reform do they think about.
In ERC they are in favor of the amnesty but after assuming that this will not happen, they look for formulas so that legislative changes in the Penal Code cause changes that are close to its effects. As explained on Monday by the newspaper El País, the Government would be willing to halve the sentence for sedition, a crime for which Oriol Junqueras and eight other procés leaders were convicted, later partially pardoned. The maximum penalty was taken by the president of the ERC Oriol Junqueras at the age of 13, but the maximum penalty for sedition is 15.
According to the same information, Pedro Sánchez would only promote the reform if Esquerra, necessary to approve it -as it is an organic law, an absolute majority of yeses is necessary, that is, 176 seats-, does not require the elimination of crime. The objective of the head of the Executive is none other than to standardize the sentences for sedition to the European average, which according to government sources cited, the maximum is around six years "for persons constituted in authority" or even below in important surrounding countries.
The reform of the crime of sedition is a promise of investiture that Pedro Sánchez in 2020 and was announced by the former Minister of Justice Juan Carlos Campo even before the Executive entered to assess the insults of the leaders imprisoned by the procés. But finally this reform was parked and the president opted for the grace measures in June 2021 to deflate the situation in Catalonia.
The spokesman for the Republican group in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has refused this Monday to assess this information, which he has called "leakage". In an interview in La 2, Rufián stressed that "we should not enter this media roller coaster" and accused the PSOE of "constantly speaking and filtering".
