Catalan Parliament Rejects Pablo Hasél's Testimony; Court Acquits Four Protesters

• Rapper Pablo Hasél was blocked from testifying before the Catalan Parliament's Working Group on Penitentiary Improvements.
• The Barcelona Provincial Court acquitted four individuals accused of participating in 2021 riots related to Hasél's imprisonment, citing a lack of evidence.

Parliament Testimony Denial

• The Working Group, part of the Commission for Justice and Democratic Quality, rejected Hasél’s invitation to speak as an incarcerated expert on prison conditions.
• Votes against the testimony came from the PSC, PP, and Vox, while ERC, Els Comuns, Junts, and the CUP voted in favor.
• The Xarxa Dret i Presó, a coalition including Centre Irídia and Alerta Solidària, criticized the decision as "unjustified" and counterproductive to the group's mission of examining issues like mechanical restraints, isolation, and mental health in prisons.

Acquittal of Protesters

• The Barcelona Provincial Court’s 22nd Section acquitted four people who faced potential prison sentences of up to 8.5 years for charges including public disorder and assault on authority during May 2021 protests.
• The court found no evidence that the defendants were directly or actively involved in burning bins or throwing stones at police.
• Judges criticized the legal procedure, labeling the grouping of the four defendants into a single trial as "legally dubious" and likely a result of insufficient evidence to attribute specific criminal behaviors to each individual.