The Government has the support of ERC to reduce the prison sentences that are included in the law
Since the procés ruling was handed down, the debate on the reform of the crime of sedition. And from time to time, this legislative change returns to gain prominence. Last July, at the dialogue table, the Government and the Generalitat agreed to reactivate this revision of the Penal Code and this Thursday, President Pedro Sánchez has announced that it will take said reform to Congress. The intention is to reduce prison sentences for comparable to other European countries. But how can this reform be carried out?
Where is the crime of sedition collected and what does it establish?
The crime of sedition It is included in the Organic Law 10/1995, of November 23, of the Penal Code. Specifically, in Title XXII, referring to crimes of public order. In the article 544 It is established that those who “rise up publicly and in a riot to prevent, by force or outside the legal channels, the application of the Laws” or what any authority can carry out “the legitimate exercise of its functions or the fulfillment of its agreements, or administrative or judicial resolutions”.
The penalties are established in article 545, one of which would enter the reform proposed by the coalition government. For the main authors of the sedition, the prison sentences would range from 8 to 10 yearsexcept in the case of public authorities, in which case it would rise to between 10 and 15 years. They would also be completely disabled for the same time. In all other situations, the prison sentence is reduced to between 4 and 8 years.
How can the Penal Code be reformed?
The Penal Code, where the crime of sedition is included, deals with an organic law. That is to say, that which, as established by the Constitution, is relative “to the development of fundamental rights and public freedoms“. Article 81.2 of the Magna Carta establishes that organic laws can only be modified by another law of the same rank.
Thus, the Government should register in Congress a draft organic law to amend the Penal Code that, once the more than foreseeable amendments to the totality that the parliamentary groups could present have been overcome, it would continue its process in the Justice Commission of the Lower House. During this process, the initial text of the Executive could undergo changes through the amendments negotiated by the parties.
What majority does the Government need to approve the reform?
As it is an organic law, it is necessary to have a absolute majority (half of the deputies plus one) to be approved. This implies that the Government should have 176 props. To the 153 deputies that the coalition Executive has (120 from the PSOE and 33 from United We Can) another 23 seats should be added. The ‘yes’ of ERC (13), PNV (6) and EH Bildu (5), regular partners of the Government, allows this absolute majority to be achieved.
How does this reform affect those convicted by the procés?
Any legislative reform resulting most beneficial for an inmate it is applied to him directly, or ex officio by the court itself, without the need for his defense to request it, or after his request. In any case it is applied automatically. In this way, a reform of the rebellion would have consequences for those already convicted, if in addition to reducing the years in prison it also modify the disqualificationwhich is the only sentence they continue to serve after they were pardoned by the Government of Pedro Sánchez and their release took place.
It also affects the fugitives, with the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont at the head, because they will know the maximum to which they will foreseeably be sentenced for that crime as established by the reform, if it is ever available to the Spanish justice system. In their case, not even the improbable decriminalization of the crime would free them from jail because all of them except Lluís Puig are also prosecuted for embezzlement, whose sentence is not expected to be modified and by itself will mean six years in prison.
The general secretary of ERC, Martha Rovirais prosecuted for rebellion, which in practice means that she only faces sedition, which was the crime that the Supreme Court established had been committed in Catalonia in the fall of 2017, so she can be directly benefited by this reform.