ANTONIO Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, has said the pardons given to Catalan independence leaders could pave the way to dialogue with Spain.
He was sharing a platform with Pedro Sanchez after they met yesterday, days after the Spanish prime minister told Catalan President Pere Aragones there would be no new referendum on self-determination.
“The creation of conditions to allow dialogue to prosper is always very important for our societies,” said Guterres, although he had initially appeared reluctant to comment on the pardons, describing them as Spain’s “internal political matters”.
However, he added that there is “an essential global principle … all problems must be solved through politics, and dialogue is an essential tool to solve the problems of our time”.
The UN chief did not reply when asked if Catalonia had the right to self-determination, but Sanchez insisted: “Anything that fosters divisions among citizens and forces them to define their identities one way or another, that's what we want to leave behind.”
“The formula is dialogue within democratic legality and reaching an agreement.”
Jordi Cuixart, one of those pardoned, repeated his call for the UN to press Spain for an amnesty for all those criminalised over the 2017 independence referendum.
He said that despite the pardons, Spanish repression was not over, and warned that hundreds of ordinary people who had taken part in peaceful protests linked to the referendum, still faced legal action from the state.
The president of grassroots group Omnium Cultural, Cuixart urged the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Peaceful Assembly, Clement Voulé, to push Spain for “a legal amnesty process” for all those involved.
He said: “I ask you to make Spain fulfil its international commitments… if political repression is allowed in a democratic state like Spain, authoritarian countries will feel legitimised in their anti-democratic practices.
“We, civil society, will never stop protesting. Defending human rights in Barcelona is also doing it in Hong Kong, Bogota or Cairo. That is why we will do it again.”
Meanwhile, 34 former Catalan government officials, facing €5.4 million (£4.6m) costs for promoting Catalan independence abroad, have less than two weeks to pay before their homes and other properties are seized.
One of them is Albert Royo, former general secretary of Diplocat, which promoted Catalan interests abroad, who said: “I am just amazed at the inability to react. Forty-eight hours have passed.
"I can speak on behalf of all those affected when I say that we should expect a robust and determined response from both the institutions and the Solidarity Fund [for an earlier referendum]. We hope that this will happen in the coming days.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here