Spanish communists persecuted in Barcelona
In January, our party received the following letter from the Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain, appealing for solidarity with targeted activists.
We have three comrades from Catalonia who are facing a trial on false charges of ‘organising public disorder’ in an anti-fascist demonstration in Barcelona in 2007. If convicted, each of them faces a sentence of 3 years and 10 months in prison.
The trial, originally scheduled for October 2010, was postponed until 14 February 2011, and our organisation has decided to relaunch a campaign of international solidarity with our Comrades Juanjo, Xavi and Albert.
We would like to emphasise the following facts, which we consider very important in relation to this trial:
1. The indictment of our three comrades is absolutely false and stems from a police set-up against the communists of the Catalan organisation of the PCPE.
As a proof of this, only two of the three comrades were in the area close to where the brutal police charge that led to the unrest took place. The other comrade, a member of the Central Committee of PCPE at the time, was charged after going to the police station to get information about the arrested comrades. Owing to work obligations, this comrade did not even participate in the demonstration.
2. Of the five people initially arrested, only two were members of our party’s youth section, but these two militants and the comrade who went to the police station will be tried separately from the two non-communists arrested. In the other case, the punishment sought by the prosecution is much lighter.
This clearly indicates the state’s desire to criminalise and punish communist militants based solely on a false accusation from the police.
[u]We are asking comrades all over the world to do what they can to show support and solidarity with these victimised comrades[/u]. Please collect signatures of solidarity. Hold rallies or demonstrations in front of the Spanish embassies in your respective countries. Send letters of complaint to the Spanish authorities.
We would welcome signatures from officials of your parties, public officials, officers of mass fronts, cultural personalities – in short, everything that can be used to apply pressure for the acquittal of our comrades, denouncing the persecution that the communists are suffering. We firmly believe that this persecution is linked to the general anti-communist hysteria.
[u]We are proposing 4 February as a date for international solidarity actions[/u]. On that day, there will also be many actions in different Spanish cities in solidarity with the three comrades. Please send us photos of any events organised in your country.
With communist greetings
Carmelo Suárez, PCPE Secretary General
Ástor García, Head of the CC’s international section
More info: internacional@pcpe.es
