Joaquim Forn: "I am being condemned for my political ideas"

Joaquim Forn used the time allowed to defendants in the Catalan independence trial to make closing statements to deny that his action as a member of the government was to liquidate the Constitution and to attack the constitutional order using violence. Forn was highly critical of the writ of the investigating judge, Pablo Llarena, for having "sent me to prison on remand despite having renounced as a Member of Parliament":
 

I was therefore being condemned for my ideas, for the coexistence of my ideas and certain policies. Today, I once again ask for freedom. I have given sufficient proof of my will to cooperate throughout the trial. This has been my intention at all times and I refer to my actions.

Forn said that the Catalan independence trial is "a failure of politics" and "punishment" for organising the October 1 referendum. He spoke of "innumerable attempts to reach an agreement with the state" and he highlighted that "we always acted with full transparency."
 

"From the government, we always thought there was another way to interpret the law, that it is not fossilised and that a more flexible interpretation would allow us to reach an agreement that would lead to a consensual solution to our demands. This will to reach agreements was manifested repeatedly both before and after the holding of the referendum."

Joaquim Forn highlighted October 1. He said it was a "manifestation of democratic values, a manifestation of civility, of citizenship and of dignity." The former minister of the Interior defended that citizens went to vote peacefully and not "abducted by the government".
 

This Court has heard many witnesses who went to vote. They were not voting against anything or anybody, it was a manifestation in favour of freedoms, of democracy and of the right to decide. The citizens who went to vote were not abducted by the government, as has been suggested. They did so fully conscious of their will to exert their right to vote.

Joaquim Forn in front of the judges of the Supreme Court in the last closing statement allowed to the defendants

Finally, Torn wanted to make it clear that the Mossos d'Esquadra, who were under the Ministry he led, complied with court orders.
 

"The Mossos always complied with the Prosecution and with the judiciary and they never gave political instructions. My statements never interfered with their actions, only with my commitment towards the Generalitat government."

Forn thanked the attorneys, families and people who supported him during his months in prison on remand and he proclaimed his "democratic values and respect towards others."

Xavier Melero, the attorney of former Minister of the Interior Joaquim Forn, had admitted that Forn disobeyed orders from the Constitutional Court but categorically denied that his defendant participated in the crimes of reellion, sedition or misuse of public funds.

Forn, in the Barcelona town hall

The Supreme Court has authorised Joaquim Forn, who is in prison on remand, to attend the session in which the Barcelona Town Hall will be constituted on 14 and 15 June, so that he may accept his position as alderman.

Related interactive resource: The keys of the Catalan independence trial