- Title: Jailed Catalan leader's wife says hopeful of acquittal, calls for amnesty
- Date: 11th October 2019
- Summary: SHELF WITH ORNAMENTS AND PICTURES OF ROMEVA IN HIS HOME AND RIBA WALKING UP STAIRS IN THE BACKGROUND RIBA ENTERING ROOM AND OPENING A CLOSET RIBA GRABBING A BOX AND PLACING IT ON A TABLE VARIOUS OF RIBA PLACING BOX ON THE TABLE AND OPENING ANOTHER BOX (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIANA RIBA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND WIFE OF JAILED CATALAN LEADER RAUL ROMEVA, SAYING: "Imprisonment totally changes family dynamics and changes your whole life from top to bottom because all of a sudden, and this is what repression is about, you find yourself living with a prison system and a member of your family is missing." RIBA WALKING AND GRABBING A YELLOW T-SHIRT WITH ROMEVA'S FACE PRINTED ON IT YELLOW T-SHIRT WITH ROMEVA'S FACE PRINTED ON IT RIBA LEAVING HOME VARIOUS OF RIBA WALKING TOWARDS CAR CARRYING A BAG RIBA PUTTING BAG IN THE TRUNK OF THE CAR RIBA DRIVING TO LLEDONERS JAIL TO VISIT ROMEVA SANT JOAN DE VILLATORRADA, SPAIN (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) ROAD SIGN ANNOUNCING LLEDONERS JAIL RIBA DRIVING BARCELONA, SPAIN (OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIANA RIBA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND WIFE OF JAILED CATALAN LEADER RAUL ROMEVA, ON THE PRISON VISIT SYSTEM: "The (visiting) regime is very hard, we have one, two family visits a month for an hour and a half. We can go with our children, this takes place in a closed room where we can be with him for an hour and a half but there is nothing to do there. Therefore, contact between minors and their father, in this case our children (11 and 13-years-old), is to sit and talk. You cannot read a story together, you cannot cook, you cannot watch a movie, so you your personal relationship with your father changes completely. You go, you are there an hour and a half and you leave." SANT JOAN DE VILLATORRADA, SPAIN (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RIBA DRIVING TO LLEDONERS JAIL TO VISIT ROMEVA AND HER CAR ENTERING THE JAIL GROUNDS VARIOUS OF EXTERIORS OF LLEDONERS JAIL BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RIBA WALKING OUTSIDE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RIBA WALKING BARCELONA, SPAIN (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIANA RIBA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND WIFE OF JAILED CATALAN LEADER RAUL ROMEVA, SAYING: "At the moment I am Member of the European Parliament for the same reason that on the first day I began to denounce the situation that we live in. My children therefore see it as a normal process we have to be part of because we have Raul Romeva in jail. We have a father, a husband, in jail. So we ... I cannot live as if it is a normal situation by going to my previous job." BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) RIBA ATTENDING HEARING ORGANIZED BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS RIBA HOLDING HER PHONE HEARING IN PROGRESS RIBA LISTENING BARCELONA, SPAIN (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIANA RIBA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND WIFE OF JAILED CATALAN LEADER RAUL ROMEVA, SAYING: "We got involved in activism, as many family members around the world do when there is a case of flagrant injustice, and that is because our voice is important, our voice is theirs because they are not here. Entering politics is a natural step." BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT - OCTOBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) RIBA AT HEARING RIBA TAKING NOTES RIBA ATTENDING HEARING BARCELONA, SPAIN (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DIANA RIBA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND WIFE OF JAILED CATALAN LEADER RAUL ROMEVA, SAYING: "We can disagree with a movement, an ideology, but in the 21st century and in democracy, what we have to do is use our voice. We have to be acknowledged. So two people can start talking, one must acknowledged the other. It has to be acknowledged that the Catalan movement has always been peaceful and democratic and there is nothing to prove that these two things are not true. There no act of violence nor is there a non-democratic act in our movement."
- Embargoed: 25th October 2019 11:13
- Keywords: Spain Independence Catalan jailed leaders Diana Riba Catalonia Relatives Verdict Raul Romeva Wife
- Location: MADRID, BARCELONA, SANT JOAN DE VILLATORRADA, SPAIN AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: MADRID, BARCELONA, SANT JOAN DE VILLATORRADA, SPAIN AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA008B0NJVBB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The wife of jailed Catalan secessionist leader Raul Romeva said she is hopeful that he will be acquitted and called for an amnesty if there is a guilty ruling when Spain's Supreme Court decides on the case of 12 separatist leaders over their role in Catalonia's 2017 banned referendum and short-lived independence declaration.
Spain's Supreme Court is expected to announce its verdict on the high stakes trial by October 16, but a judicial source said on Friday (October 11) it would be announced on Monday (October 14).
Catalonia's bid for independence triggered Spain's biggest political crisis in decades.
Prosecutors have asked for a 16 year prison sentence for Romeva, and 7 to 25 years for the others.
"There is no evidence that justifies these years in preventive prison nor to be jailed," Diana Riba, 44, told Reuters. She is a European Parliament member for left-wing Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalonia's Republican Left).
Nine of the 12 leaders have been in pre-trial detention for almost two years over charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. The verdict will deeply influence Spanish politics and could trigger widespread protests in Catalonia in case of a guilty sentence.
Supporters of the defendants say they are political prisoners. The Spanish government says they are being judged strictly in line with the rule of law.
After her husband's imprisonment, Riba decided to quit her career in cultural issues and ran in May's European elections to attract attention to the situation of the jailed leaders and Catalan separatism.
Riba said her family never expected Romeva would be jailed for his role as foreign affairs councillor of the Catalan government at the time.
With their two kids, aged 11 and 13, she sees her husband three hours a month in the jail where he is held outside Barcelona, and she also has bilateral meetings with him. "Imprisonment totally changes family dynamics and changes your whole life from top to bottom," she said.
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