The investigation was finished, the indictment and defense briefs had been presented for some time, the case was gathering dust in the drawers and the TSJC did not want to wait any longer, not even for an amnesty law that will affect the accused. Yesterday, the lawyer of the administration of justice sent the notification in which he informed that in April the trial will begin for the high officials of ERC close to Oriol Junqueras, Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó - considered architects of the structures of the future Catalan State–, and to the Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga. A date late enough for the amnesty law to be in force and the trial not to take place.
In the letter notified yesterday, the court plans to start the trial on April 10 and extend it in twenty-one sessions until May 29. On November 8, lawyers for the accused met with court officials to look at schedules and look for a slot to hold the trial, aware that the amnesty law may be in effect by April but subject to the obligation of continuing forward with a cause that has dragged on since 2017.
In the event that the law of criminal oblivion is not in force, the trial would be held and it would be afterwards when, to Jové, Salvadó and Garriga, the measure of grace would be applied to them.
"Nothing is by chance," denounced Josep Maria Jové in a post on Twitter. "More than six years after they started investigating us, they finally set a trial date. Fifteen days after an agreement was announced for an amnesty law, which has been in the process for a week", he lamented.
In a statement, ERC rejected the trial against its leaders and reaffirmed that "amnesty is the tool to set the counter to zero". "We will continue to defend ourselves against whoever is necessary, because we did not commit any crime, because the political conflict will only be resolved politically, because being independent is a right and almost an obligation, and so that no one else suffers illegal investigations and attacks like that of Pegasus”, he stated.
Jové is one of the strong men of the ERC apparatus. He is the president of the Republican group in Parliament and was one of the negotiators of the investiture agreement with the PSOE in which an amnesty law was agreed upon that will favor him. He was also one of the positions that ERC sat at the open dialogue table with the socialists at the beginning of the last legislature. In the case of Salvadó, who was secretary of the Treasury in 2017, he is currently the president of the Port of Barcelona. The case against both of them was born in the court of inquiry 13 of Barcelona, but was separated when both leaders of ERC won the status of deputies and the case was transferred to the TSJC.
This was the first major judicial proceeding against the process that triggered the searches – and the subsequent protests – at the headquarters of the Department of Economy on the famous September 20, 2017.
Jové and Salvadó were inside the ministry when thousands of people protested at the doors against the operation of the Civil Guard. The Prosecutor's Office requests for both 7 years in prison and 6 and a half years for the crimes of disobedience, prevarication and aggravated embezzlement, and a disqualification of 32 and 27 years respectively. Councilor Natàlia Garriga is accused of disobedience, which does not entail prison terms, but a year of disqualification and a fine of 18,000 euros.
