LAWYERS for the Catalan Government have said it is essential that a nominee for president must be physically present in the parliamentary chamber for debate and voting.
In an advisory report, the legal experts said regulations prevented a president being sworn in at a distance — via Skype, for instance — as deposed President Carles Puigdemont planned to do from exile in Brussels.
Former vice president and leader of the pro-independence ERC, Oriol Junqueras, is still in a Madrid jail, as is deposed Catalan Home Affairs Minister, Joaquim Forn.
READ MORE: Catalan Parliament convenes but questions remain over presidency
All were re-elected as MPs in the December 21 election called by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, but a judge has denied them permission to be released to vote in today’s opening session of parliament. Six other former cabinet ministers spent a month in jail and were released on bail of up to €100,000 (£88,700).
Puigdemont, who is facing charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, would face immediate arrest were he to return from his self-imposed exile in Belgium, which is why his party — Together for Catalonia (JxCat) — wants him installed as president through Skype.
A European Union committee meanwhile, has received more than 40 requests from Catalans to investigate the political situation in Catalonia and the Spanish state police violence surrounding the October 1 independence referendum. The requests have been sent to the Committee on Petitions.
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