Ben Emmerson QC of Matrix Chambers submits petition to the UN Human Rights Committee in relation to allegations that Spain has violated Carles Puigdemont’s right to participate in political life by forcing him into exile in Belgium.
Ben Emmerson QC said today:
“The pro-independence Catalan political leaders are ready to enter talks with Madrid, in order to achieve a peaceful negotiated settlement. They have only three preconditions. First that any dialogue must be inclusive and conducted in good faith on both sides. Secondly that the Government must immediately release the four political political prisoners it is holding in arbitrary detention. This can be achieved quickly and easily, either by a decision to drop the charges immediately, as urged by the Secretary-General of Amnesty International; or – if Spain is not yet ready to this – by dropping its opposition to the grant of bail for the Catalan Four. Thirdly, they must lift the de facto state of emergency and lift exceptional direct rule from Madrid, restoring the autonomous status of Catalonia.”
Please see here for the full text of the petition of Carles Puigdemont to the UN Human Rights Committee in the case of Puigdemont v The Kingdom of Spain.