The former deputy of the CUP Anna Gabriel, an expatriate in Switzerland since 2018, appeared this Tuesday before the Supreme Court in Madrid to regularize her situation.
In February four years ago, the one who was the leader of the CUP during the legislature that led to the declaration of independence and the suspension of autonomy in Catalonia fled to Switzerland after denouncing that in Spain she was not going to have a fair trial.
The Supreme Court, which keeps the case against her open for a crime of disobedience, a crime that does not imply prison sentences, released her and will summon her to testify possibly in the second week of September. In the meantime, her only obligation is to be reachable. In fact, when appearing before the Court, the arrest warrant issued against her when she did not appear in February 2018 has been suspended.
The news that Gabriel had appeared in Madrid accompanied by her lawyer, Íñigo Iruín, was made known through a note from the solidarity committee with Anna Gabriel. According to this statement, "previously and during the last few months, there had been several inquiries and clarifications about her current procedural situation."
Initially, Judge Llarena, who instructed the cause of the procés, accused Gabriel of the same crimes for which the main defendants were later convicted. However, at the end of the investigation, the judge lowered the charges against some of those involved, including Anna Gabriel, who was investigated solely for disobedience.
This happened in March 2018, when the former CUP deputy was already outside of Spain and lived in Switzerland.
Throughout these three years, Gabriel's lawyers have tried to ensure the legal situation of the former deputy and thus transfer the case to a court in Barcelona. However, Judge Llarena has always rejected this request, alleging that Gabriel's case is involved in the special case opened in the Supreme Court by the procés.
Gabriel, after appearing before the Supreme Court in Madrid, has returned to Switzerland, where he plans to continue living.
The same note from the solidarity committee transcribes some statements by Gabriel herself in which she specifies that “after four and a half years of exile, today there is a necessary procedural step to recover a freedom of movement that she would never have had to lose, nor I nor anyone. This step responds to a series of considerations, reflections and analysis that have to do both with the general political and judicial context, as well as with a series of personal circumstances”.
Gabriel adds that "for now, consistent with a series of professional and personal responsibilities acquired, I will continue to live and work in the same place where I have lived and worked in recent years."
Gabriel is currently General Secretary of the Unia union in Geneva, a position she took up a little over a year ago.
The legal process of the former CUP deputy is, in fact, very similar to the one already carried out by the former minister Meritxell Serret who, after the events of October 2017, expatriated to Belgium together with Puigdemont and some of the former ministers who still accompany him. Serret appeared by surprise before the Supreme Court – in fact, not even Puigdemont knew that she had left Brussels until the news was announced – in March 2021 and, after testifying, she was also placed in custody. freedom.
The Government spokeswoman, Patrícia Plaja, said on Tuesday that the Catalan Executive "will welcome" the former CUP deputy Anna Gabriel if she decides to return to Catalonia, although she acknowledged that she was unaware of her return plans.
Plaja celebrated the step taken by Gabriel, whom he defined as a "victim of the repression of 1-O", before expressing all the "solidarity" of the Government "towards her and towards all exiles and victims of reprisals".
The ERC Secretary General, Marta Rovira, also reacted to Gabriel's announcement, with whom she has met in Switzerland since she fled in 2018: “A lot of strength, Anna. I wish you luck and success."
Rovira, unlike Gabriel, was charged at the close of the investigation for rebellion, a crime that was later ruled out by the sentence. Her situation could be resolved with the change in the Penal Code that the independence supporters yearn for.
