The statements of Jordi Cuixart in 10 sentences
This Tuesday's declaration by Òmnium Cultural President Jordi Cuixart in the frame of the Catalan Independence trial was marked by the intense interrogation of prosecutor Jaime Moreno, whose questioning occupied most of the time.
Cuixart only responded both to his lawyer, Marina Roig, and to Moreno, and many responses to questions from the latter challenged the very formulation of the questions.
"I am a political prisoner, not a politician in prison"
When Moreno asked him about the decree calling for the 1-O referendum and the suspension ordered by the Constitutional Court, Cuixart stated that he did not hold a political position:
"I believe it is necessary for me to specify here: I am a political prisoner, not a politician in prison."
Claiming the "democratic tsunami"
The prosecutor asked him about an expression that appears in Mauri's email message, a "democratic tsunami", and Cuixart claimed it as his own:
"To reproach that I want to carry out a democratic tsunami, well, I do not see what is punishable about this, or whether I should take back those words; quite the contrary. Yes, we want more democracy, more open and more participative societies, and it is one of the shortcomings we must make up for as a society."
Getting out of prison is not a priority
When the prosecutor reminded him of the words of judge Pablo Llarena during the investigative phase, Cuixart retracted his statement:
"I would like to make this clear in order to avoid any misunderstandings: my statements before the investigating judge were related to a will to get out of prison at any cost. That is no longer my priority. I am a political prisoner."
"After 500 days, getting out of prison is not a priority. My priority is to have the chance to denounce the attack against and the violation of rights and freedoms in Catalonia and in Spain."
Attributes the 20-S call to the newspaper "El Mundo"
With regard to the demonstration on 20S in front of the ministry of the Economy, the prosecutor asked him about the "call" for said demonstration, to which Cuixart replied that there was no such call:
"You say call. Allow me to correct you: the call was a spontaneous phenomenon. First thing in the morning, one of the main channels of dissemination, in this case, was the "El Mundo" newspaper, which send a photograph of the police entering the headquarters of the vice-presidency and, spontaneously, people from the bar started to gather around the building; the bar, by the way, remained open throughout 20 September."
"Disrespectful"
When asked about a tweet that warned the people gathered there to avoid violent attitudes, Cuixart felt offended by the way in which Jaime Moreno had worded his question:
Jaime Moreno: "Were you expecting violent attitudes?"
Jordi Cuixart: "Lets see here, let's see here, let's see here, with all due respect: I believe this question is disrespectful towards me. What I am saying is that when I said "Everyone go to Rambla-Gran Via" on my official account, adding that we should "isolate any violent attitudes or actions", what has always characterised us, as pro-independence entities, is our ever-peaceful attitude."
"I cannot and will not" renounce my fundamental rights
The prosecutor insisted on whether he had considered calling off the demonstration at any moment, and Cuixart used one of Mariano Rajoy's expressions to refer to the exercise of fundamental rights:
"If you are asking me to renounce the exercise of my fundamental rights, I say to you that I will never renounce the exercise of my fundamental rights. To paraphrase a prime minister: "I cannot and will not", and I will never renounce the exercise of these fundamental rights."
The legitimacy of civil disobedience
"In no case does civil disobedience go against a whole legal system: it takes a judicial decision or a part of the law that does not agree under a principle that it is a priority, because otherwise, that is not to be considered disobedience. The principle of non-violence fully assumes the consequences of any of the acts carried out. The principle on which Hannah Arendt theorizes very well, as well as Gandhi and Luther King, who are great references to consider in this sense."
1-O, the largest exercise of disobedience in Europe
"All citizens of Spain should be proud of October 1. It became the largest historical civil disobedience exercise in Europe. There is no equal to it."
"Two completely unknown persons" until 16-O
"Jordi Sànchez and I were two perfect strangers for Spanish society. Catalan society, mostly the national pro-sovereignity sector, does recognize a moral authority in us, in a relative manner, of course. I mean, we are not gurus either! We were actually only two individuals more than two important entities ourselves, but we were indeed part of an ecosystem."
"What happened? When they put us in jail, we became references of Catalan society, beyond the independence movement and against my will."
"No pasarán", by Apel·les Mestres
Roig asked for a slogan used those days, appearing in both the writings of the Guardia Civil and the accusations, the "No pasarán" ("They will not pass"), and Cuixart explained its story:
"It is a reference to a poem by Apel·les Mestres, a Catalan poet who said: "No passareu, i si passeu, quan tots haurem deixat de viure, sabreu, de sobres, a quin preu s'abat un poble digne i lliure, més, no serà! Per més que feu no passareu"."
["You will not pass! And if you do, after death strikes all of us, then you will learn well what it takes to beat a proud and free people. But it shall not end up happening! No matter how much you try, you will not pass! "]
Related interactive resource: The keys of the catalan independence trial
