King Felipe VI of Spain seated opposite Ada Colau at the Mobile World Congress Official Dinner Inauguration on February 25, 2018 in Barcelona. NurPhoto/Press Association. all rights reserved.Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has been detained by the German police while the Spanish Supreme Court has ordered imprisonment without bail for five other pro-independence leaders.
They are only the most recent victims of a wave of repression of free speech unlashed by the Spanish government and judiciary in recent months. Indeed, an increase in judicial rulings and police actions that challenge fundamental freedoms has been taking place. The most serious manifestations of this trend have occurred in Catalonia, where the Spanish police violently repressed the self-determination referendum convoked by the Catalan government last October 1 (declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court), and courts decided to prosecute several pro-independence politicians and social leaders.
While the latest detentions of pro-independence politicians have prompted the mass media to focus on Catalonia again, free speech seems now to be threatened throughout Spain. The environment of exalted Spanish nationalism promoted by Mariano Rajoy's government in response to the Catalan pro-independence movement has encouraged conservative judges to clamp down with increasing severity on crimes of opinion.
