Junts per Catalunya will try to modify in the parliamentary process of the Congress of Deputies the reform that Esquerra and the PSOE agreed to repeal the crime of sedition and modify that of public disorder. In the formation they are not happy with the current wording of the bill and will present amendments in the Lower House, as announced on Monday by the party's spokesman and vice president, Josep Rius, at the press conference after the executive meeting . If these amendments do not prosper in JxCat they see it very difficult to approve the modification and they brand Esquerra's position as "incomprehensible".
"ERC has been left alone defending the reform of the Penal Code. Neither ANC, nor Òmnium Cultural. ERC should reflect because more and more pro-independence parties and entities do not share its strategy, it seems that they are taking the pleasure of being left alone" , the spokesman has referred.
Among other issues, as highlighted by Rius, they plan to introduce measures such as those that decriminalized insubmission, when "it was made very clear what retroactive effects it could have" in each case.
In addition, in Junts they regret that the reform "has been agreed on with the backs of all the victims of reprisals." "This is the reason why we defended a space for strategic direction, debate and consensus among the main pro-independence actors," said the spokesperson for the group, who will meet in the coming days with other pro-independence actors such as entities and other parties . Likewise, Rius has given support to the call for a demonstration by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) to express the rejection of the Republican pact with Moncloa. "Junts is in favor of participating in all these demonstrations and will continue to do so in this way," he said when asked about it.
On the other hand, Rius explained that the expatriate Junts leaders "have made a strategy knowing that the sedition was anachronistic" and that they are now analyzing whether the legal modification "has undesirable effects" for former president Carles Puigdemont and the other politicians who reside abroad. "The rules of the game change," Rius summed up.
In JxCat's opinion, this reform "does not decriminalize" since "a minority is decriminalized, but it broadens the assumptions of repression" with an element such as "intimidation", now included in the new wording of the crime of aggravated public disorder. Before, only "violence" appeared, now the text provides "violence" or "intimidation".
"It can be used against the independence movement to increase repression. It criminalizes the protest, Rius has complained, detailing that the crime of sedition "is now subsumed as a new crime of public disorder with elements such as intimidation that can be interpreted against fundamental rights", he pointed out.
In addition, according to JxCat's criteria, the measure "collides with the exercise of fundamental rights and opens the door to biased interpretations by the judicial leadership." "The proposal seems to be written by Judge Marchena, it reflects the spirit of the sentence of October 14, 2019", Rius has sentenced.
