The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has endorsed the actions of the Supreme Court and has concluded that the political rights of Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull and Jordi Sànchez were not violated during their stay in provisional prison within the framework of the 'procés'.
The court based in Strasbourg considers that the measures adopted by the Supreme Court were “proportionate” and conformed to legality, thus ruling out that there was a violation of the right to free elections.
In its resolution, the ECHR underlines that "national authorities have a wide margin of appreciation" in this type of decisions and endorses that the situation of pre-trial detention limited the effective exercise of the political rights of the pro-independence leaders.
The plaintiffs alleged that their permanence in prison prevented them from fully exercising their functions as public representatives after being elected in various elections. However, the European court concludes that said limitation was an inherent consequence of a legitimate judicial measure.
The ruling comes after years of litigation in international instances and represents new support for the decisions adopted by Spanish justice in relation to the events of 2017. In this regard, the ECHR recalls that pre-trial detention was agreed upon in a context of “risk of criminal reiteration” and with the objective of guaranteeing the correct development of the judicial process.
