Today, Friday, November 11, the Sanchez government will officially table as a bill the modification of the Penal Code so that the offense of sedition is abolished. The offense of secession was the one for which several separatist leaders were convicted in October 2019 for having organized a self-determination referendum two years earlier. The defendants had been sentenced to nine to thirteen years in prison, before being pardoned in June 2021. The opposition is mad with rage.
With our correspondent in Madrid, Francois Musseau
It is a turning point in Spanish politics and in relations between the central power and that of Catalonia. The Spanish Penal Code will no longer recognize as such the offense of “sedition, it will be replaced by that of “aggravated public disorder”. The first could result in up to fifteen years in prison, the second around five years in prison.
The right enrages
The head of government Pedro Sanchez said that by doing this the Spanish Penal Code is now more similar to that of other countries, such as those of Germany, or France. Note that the offense of “rebellion”, which involves the use of weapons, retains the same seriousness. In the right-wing opposition, we are mad with rage.
A “ better democracy »
It’s a ” humiliation says conservative Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who sees it as the price paid by Pedro Sanchez for the Catalan separatists to vote his annual budget in Parliament. ” Traitor wrote in a tweet the leader of the ultra right Vox. In Catalonia, the moderate separatist government is delighted with this change which makes Spain a “ better democracy “. In practice, five Catalan officials on the run abroad would see their sentences greatly reduced if they set foot on Spanish soil again.
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