A BELGIAN politician is calling for the people – and not the courts – to decide the future of Catalonia, the independence seeking state that has been virtually neutered by the Spanish justiciary acting at the behest of the country’s central government.

Peter Luykx, an MP from the New Flemish Alliance, says he is disgusted by the attempts of the government in Madrid to impinge on his Catalan counterparts’ freedom of speech.

Francesc Homs, who was former president Artus Mas’s right-hand man, has been in court this week over his part in helping to organise the 2014 referendum on independence.

Speaking exclusively to The National, Luykx said his party is an advocate of self-determination and the right of each nation to decide the scope of its desired autonomy.

“The right to debate at liberty within the confines of parliament or to consult the people should not only be self-evident, it is also quintessential in a democracy.

“On November 9, 2014, as an international observer in Barcelona, I witnessed democracy at work.

“With hundreds of volunteers engaged and 2.3 million citizens casting their vote in an informal plebiscite, for the first time the Catalan people were being heard. They were given the right to decide on their future, as part of Spain or as an autonomous nation.

“That the man who organised that independence vote, the former president of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, is now on trial for civil disobedience is incomprehensible.

“And the 40,000 supporters protesting outside the courtroom seem to share my opinion.

“The partition of two nations is never an easy process, emotions tend to run high. The least favourable approach for all partners involved is to try to evade the issue by denying dialogue.

“This includes the current strategy from Madrid to weaponise judicial measures against the separatists as it is otherwise unable to achieve its means.

“It is a slippery slope politicising the court system or launching smear campaigns against pro-independence politicians for advocating self-rule.

“Refusing their right to even debate it in their own parliament under the threat of prosecution is an even more severe violation.

“It is the right and duty of parliamentarians everywhere to debate on everything.

“A legally-binding referendum will take place by the end of September this year.

“The Constitutional Court may have annulled the required resolutions passed by the Catalan Parliament, but as the separatist leaders have decided to defy the ruling, the nation is still on track to become an autonomous nation.

“The best option for Madrid now is to open negotiations and not to evoke Article 155 of the constitution, as Minister of Justice Rafael Catalá advocated, abruptly ending the system of self-government for the Catalan autonomous community.

“Let the people decide.”