Quim Torra, the separatist regional president of Catalonia, has vowed to carry on the push for independence from Spain despite being banned from public office by the supreme court in Madrid.
Torra, who became Catalan president in May 2018, has pursued the same confrontational approach towards independence as his predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after the failed, unilateral attempt to secede from Spain three years ago.
However, Torra’s term in office ended on Monday, when the supreme court upheld the sentence of a lower court that had found him guilty of disobedience for displaying pro-independence symbols on public buildings during last year’s general election campaign.
The ruling will once again push the independence issue up the national political agenda, and trigger a fresh Catalan election early next year if the regional parliament cannot agree on a successor.
Speaking on Monday evening, Torra said he did not accept the supreme court’s ruling, which he described as an “attempt to overthrow the government of Catalonia”.
In a speech that suggested a new regional election is all but certain, he said the poll would allow Catalans to choose between what he termed “democracy and freedom or repression and imposition”.
Torra added: “We want to achieve our independence, we want to exercise self-determination and, above all, we want a democracy of the highest standards for our country. We will have the opportunity to further move in this direction in the upcoming election which will be held in the next few months. This needs to be a turning point.”
Catalonia’s high court of justice imposed the ban last December after finding Torra guilty of disobedience in the run-up to the general election eight months earlier.
During the proceedings in Barcelona, Torra admitted disobeying Spain’s central electoral board in March when it ordered him to remove a banner reading “Freedom for political prisoners and exiles” from the regional government headquarters in Barcelona.
He was also told to take down the yellow ribbons used to express solidarity with jailed Catalan independence leaders.
The board described the ribbons as “tools of political propaganda” that breached campaign laws.
Torra said he had always known that his refusal to follow the board’s orders would result in him being put on trial. But he argued that the orders were illegal and constituted an unacceptable act of censorship.
Torra appealed against the regional court’s decision in the supreme court in Madrid this month, once again claiming that he was the victim of “judicial and political repression”, adding: “Whatever the judges decide now – even if it contravenes the democratic mandate of a parliament – we will not be forced to give an inch when it comes to our convictions and political objectives.”
On Monday the supreme court judges unanimously confirmed the earlier sentence, banning Torra from holding office for a year and a half and ordering him to pay a fine of €30,000.
In its judgment, the court noted that Torra had repeatedly admitted the offences, and concluded that he had shown a “stubborn, blunt, repeated and obstinate resistance” to obeying the law.
It also found that the central electoral board had not infringed the Catalan president’s ideological rights or freedom of expression.
“As a citizen, he is free to engage in protests or acts that reflect his political identity,” said the court.
“This is about disobeying repeated orders from a constitutional body whose function is to guarantee the transparency and integrity of electoral processes, something that requires neutrality on the part of public powers and administrations.”
Monday’s decision means the regional vice-president, Pere Aragonès, will step in as caretaker president while the Catalan parliament chooses a new leader. If it fails to do so, a snap regional election will be held early next year.
Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament and a member of the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left party, said: “Barring the president of the Catalan government from exercising the right to freedom of expression is not right in a democratic system.”
He added: “Repression will not do away with the majority will of this people.”
Catalonia, however, remains fairly evenly split over the question of independence. Pro-independence parties have never managed to take 50% of the vote in regional elections. Meanwhile, popular support for seceding from Spain – which reached a record high of 48.7% in October 2017 – is at 42%, with 50.5% of Catalans opposed to it.
