Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Oriol Junqueras  was elected to the European Parliament  26, May 2019. 

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Spain should have freed jailed leader of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), Oriol Junqueras to take up his duties as a duly elected Member of the European Parliament (MEP).  Europe’s top court based in Luxembourg ruled last Thursday that Junqueras became a MEP as soon as he was elected, and enjoyed parliamentary immunity from that moment on.  

 “A person elected to the European Parliament acquires the status of Member of that institution at the time of the official declaration of the results and enjoys, from that time, the immunities attached to that status.”

 -European Court of Justice 

 UNDER IMMUNITY,   an MEP cannot be subject to detention or legal proceedings because of views expressed or votes cast,  but does not apply to an MEP who has committed an offence.

Buildings of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The Luxembourg-based COJ is the European Union’s top court.

‼ El TJUE dona la raó a Oriol @junqueras i reconeix que tenia immunitat.

Exigim la nul·litat del judici i la llibertat immediata! pic.twitter.com/uw8VHzml29

— Esquerra Republicana (@Esquerra_ERC) December 19, 2019

‼Oriol @junqueras: "La victòria és una obligació. Diverses generacions han resistit per donar-nos l'oportunitat de guanyar"✊

📲No et perdis el discurs del president d'@Esquerra_ERC al #28CongrésERC👇https://t.co/Ea13MmHjiK

— Esquerra Republicana (@Esquerra_ERC) December 21, 2019

Last October,  Spain’s Supreme Court sentenced Junqueras along with eight other former Catalan leaders to prison for involvement in a failed attempt to secede from Spain in 2017.  Junqueras was slapped with a 13-year prison sentence after being found guilty of sedition and misuse of public funds. The independence referendum had been declared unconstitutional by Spanish courts.  Junqeras brought the legal action after being elected to the European Parliament 26 May 2019 challenging an order Spanish Court refusing to grant him a special authorisation to leave prison.  He requested authorisation in order to discharge a formality required by Spanish law following the declaration of results, namely swearing or pledging to abide by the Spanish Constitution before a central electoral board, and subsequently to travel to the European Parliament in order to take part in the inaugural session of the new parliament.  Following the referral made to the Court,  the Tribunal Supremo, on 14 October 2019, sentenced Junqueras to a 13-year term of imprisonment and, for that same period, a 13-year  disqualification from holding any public office or exercising any public function. 

In its ruling, the  European Court  ruled that  “the purpose of that immunity is to allow such persons to, inter alia, travel to and take part in the inaugural session of the newly elected European Parliament. Unlike the immunity as regards sessions provided for in the first paragraph, which they enjoy only from the time of that inaugural session and during the entire duration of the sessions of the European Parliament, the immunity as regards travel applies to the Members while they are travelling to the place of meeting of the European Parliament, including to that first sitting.”

“The Immunity as regards travel granted to every Member of the European Parliament entails lifting any measure of provisional detention imposed prior to the declaration of that Member’s election, in order to allow that person to travel to and take part in the inaugural session of the European Parliament. Consequently, if the competent national court considers that the measure should be maintained, it must as soon as possible request the European Parliament to waive that immunity, on the basis of the third paragraph of Article 9 of the Protocol.”

-European Court of Justice