It is our duty! Lawyers rally behind Catalan people in bid for independence vote

Around 150 lawyers and solicitors demonstrated outside the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluna (TSJC) yesterday, calling for the democratic right to vote in the referendum on Catalan independence on October 1.

In a statement they said that it was their “duty to protect the rights of all citizens to their freedom of expression, the right of assembly, the freedom of the press, the right to the secret communication and the right of self-determination.”

The lawyers also pointed out that these were fundamental rights, which had previously been guaranteed by the Spanish legal system.

A spokeswoman for the group said: “The judges, magistrates, prosecutors and in general all the agents of the the authority should be brave, to apply the law and justice without any political imposition, to dictate resolutions adjusted to law, to apply the international law to which the Spanish state is due under the current international treaties that it has signed and the jurisprudence that emanates from the international court of justice, to guarantee the right of citizens to exercise their rights and freedoms with all the guarantees. Do not be scared!”

The group also warned they would report members of the police who removed any ballot boxes.

The lawyers also hit out at what they saw as the “politicisation of justice” with Madrid attempting to prevent Catalans from exercising their right of self-determination.

They also claimed that holding a referendum on independence was not a crime under the Spanish penal code, which would appear to go against the ruling of the Constitutional Court in Madrid, which has ruled the vote to be “illegal”.

The group also promised to make themselves available if anyone had their rights violated over voting or actions connected with holding the referendum.

The spokeswoman said: “We will file any complaints and queries that are necessary so that the actions carried out by the security forces in an illegal manner do not go unpunished.

“The security forces that request ballot papers without a legal order adjusted to law will be denounced, if someone is stopped illegally we will take legal action, we will put resources against the orders that we consider contrary to law and will do everything in our hands.”