Bolaños avoids comparing the terrorism of the ‘process’ with that of ETA: Does he really think it is comparable to what Spain suffered?
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños, when questioned by the press about whether there is any crime of terrorism that does not attack human rights, asked if the terrorism attributed to the process is comparable with which ‘Spain suffered’ for decades.
“Let’s be serious. Does anyone really believe that the independence process is comparable to the terrorism that Spain suffered for decades? Does anyone really believe that? What we all understand by terrorism, what Spain suffered for decades of terrorism, this is out of the amnesty”, he assured.
This is what he said this Wednesday to the media when he arrived at the Supreme Court for the inauguration ceremony of Álvaro García Ortiz as State Attorney General after being confirmed by the Government to repeat in the position which he assumed in July 2022.
Positioning on the Amnesty Law
Bolaños has insisted that what they are doing is working to approve a law that aims to ‘normalise the political, institutional and social situation in Catalonia’. ‘With this law, a new stage opens in Catalonia, a very deep wound that existed in Catalonia and the rest of Spain is definitively overcome. And therefore what we want is that coexistence in our country is guaranteed. And this is the purpose and objective of the amnesty law’, he stressed.
The head of Justice has expressed himself in this way after this Tuesday PSOE, Sumar, ERC, Bildu, PNB, Junts per Catalunya and Podemos agreed to exclude from the amnesty bill the crimes of terrorism ‘as long as manifestly and with intent’ have directly caused serious violations of ‘human rights’ such as killing or torturing.
Terrorism Crimes Amendment
This amendment approved by the Justice Committee of Congress would allow amnesty for the 12 members of the Committees for the Defense of the Republic (CDR) and the 10 accused for the riots allegedly promoted by ‘Democratic Tsunami’ who have been investigated in the National Court.
Specifically, article 2, in section d), is modified to specify that terrorist crimes would be excluded from the amnesty ‘whenever’ the intention of the accused was to generate ‘serious violations of human rights, in particular, those provided for in article 2 and 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and in international humanitarian law’.
Statements about the Constitutional Court and reactions
Asked about the PP’s statements about the Constitutional Court, Bolaños reproached the party for ‘discrediting’ the institutions. ‘I think that the Popular Party and Mr. Feijóo are in a spiral of extremism and in a far-right spiral of lies,’ he added.
On the other hand, after being questioned if he defended in the same way the judge of the National Court Manuel García Castelló of the affirmations of the vice-president Teresa Ribera on alleged prevarication, the minister reiterated that ‘the position of the Government is clear’ .’I have repeated it on different occasions, I will of course repeat it again, that the Government, of course, will always be defending the independence, impartiality, professionalism of the judges and magistrates of our country and that they act without interference of any kind ‘, he concluded.
Statements on the claims of Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch
The minister has also spoken, at the request of the press, about the statements in which Vox MEP Hermann Tertsch has said that ‘God forbid that they shoot him in the face (of Bolaños) like Vidal-Quadras’ . Bolaños has shown his concern while pointing out that ‘violent speeches end up generating violence’.
Reactions between parties
Regarding this, PSOE sources have pointed out that this message reflects the drift that the PP and its leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo have taken ‘When government agreements are maintained with characters of this spectrum it is impossible not to end up contaminated with hatred and desraó’, they indicated.
So the socialists ask the PP to abandon the agreements with Vox and warn that as long as they ‘go hand in hand’ with Santiago Abascal’s party ‘many things will be at risk’. ‘Spain cannot afford these speeches of hate, which do not condemn the main conservative party in the country and the opposition’, they pointed out immediately.
The PP responded immediately to this remark, with a mocking message. ‘On the assessment of the PSOE sent to the media saying that the statements of a Vox MEP are a reflection of the drift that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has taken, blaming the president of the PP for what someone from another party says, we mean the following ‘. Then they simply added several emoticons that reflect laughter, without adding any other message.