Jordi Sànchez (politician) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jordi Sànchez
Jordi Sànchez in 2017
Member of the Congress of Deputies
In office 20 May 2019 – 24 May 2019 (suspended)
Constituency	Barcelona
Member of the Parliament of Catalonia for the Province of Barcelona
In office 17 January 2018 – 18 May 2019 (suspended since 10 July 2018)
President of the Catalan National Assembly
In office 6 May 2015 – 16 November 2017
Preceded by	Carme Forcadell
Succeeded by	Elisenda Paluzie
Personal details
Born	(1964-10-01) 1 October 1964 (age 60) Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Political party	National Call for the Republic (2019–2020) Together for Catalonia (2020–2023)
Alma mater	Autonomous University of Barcelona
Occupation	Political activist
Known for	President of the Catalan National Assembly

Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol (born 1 October 1964) is a Spanish political activist from Catalonia. He was the president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) from May 2015 to November 2017. The ANC is a group that supports Catalonia becoming independent from Spain.

In October 2017, Jordi Sànchez was put in prison. He was accused of organizing large protests related to the Catalan independence vote. After a regional election in Catalonia, he was suggested as a candidate for president in March 2018. However, he was suspended from his role as a lawmaker in the Catalan parliament in July 2018.

In December 2018, he went on a hunger strike to protest his situation. In April 2019, he was elected to the Spanish Parliament. He then left his position in the Catalan Parliament. He was sworn into the Spanish Parliament in May 2019, but was suspended a few days later. In October 2019, he was found guilty of organizing protests and was given a nine-year prison sentence. Amnesty International believed his imprisonment and sentence limited his rights to speak freely and gather peacefully.

Jordi Sànchez was released from prison in June 2021. This happened because the government gave him a pardon.

Early Life and Work

Jordi Sànchez studied political science and earned a degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 1991. He also taught at the University of Barcelona and other universities.

From 1983 to 1993, he was a leader and spokesperson for a group called Crida a la Solidaritat (which means Call for Solidarity). For many years, he was involved with a political party called Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds. Between 1996 and 2004, he was on the board of the Catalan Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which runs public TV and radio in Catalonia.

In 1996, he became an assistant director at the Jaume Bofill Foundation, and then its director in 2001. This foundation works on social and educational projects. In 2010, he started working as an aide to the Ombudsman of Catalonia. An Ombudsman is like a public defender who helps people with problems they have with the government.

Jordi Sànchez also wrote articles and shared his thoughts on social and political topics in different media. He helped create plans for public education and for how to help new immigrants in Catalonia.

Leading the Catalan National Assembly

On 16 May 2015, Jordi Sànchez became the president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC). He took over from Carme Forcadell. The ANC is a large group that organizes people who want Catalonia to become an independent country. He was chosen by many members of the group's main board.

Time in Prison

Jordi Sànchez was put in prison on 16 October 2017. He was accused of organizing protests that were considered against the law. These protests happened on 20 September 2017. They were in front of the Catalan economy department during police searches related to the independence vote.

He was accused of leading large groups of people who gathered to protect Catalan officials. However, Jordi Sànchez and another activist, Jordi Cuixart, had publicly asked for "peaceful" and "civic" protests. Videos from that night also showed them asking people to go home peacefully.

In July 2018, Jordi Sànchez was moved to a prison in Catalonia. From December 1 to December 20, 2018, he went on a hunger strike. He did this to bring attention to what he felt was unfair treatment by Spain. On 14 October 2019, he was found guilty and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Public Reactions

After Jordi Sànchez was put in prison, many people started a "yellow-ribbon" campaign. This was to show support for him and other Catalan leaders who were facing legal action.

Many people, including the former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, called Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart "political prisoners." However, the Spanish Justice Minister said they were "imprisoned politicians," not "political prisoners."

Amnesty International said that the charges and imprisonment were "too much." They asked for Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart to be released right away. Amnesty International said that the charges against them were an "excessive and disproportionate restriction on their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."

Many large protests took place in Barcelona to show disagreement with their imprisonment. For example, on 19 October, 200,000 people gathered with candles. On 21 October, 450,000 people joined another protest. Later, on 11 November, 750,000 people protested after some members of the Catalan government were also imprisoned.

Organizations like the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and PEN International also spoke out. They said that keeping people in prison before a trial should be a last choice. They also said that Jordi Sànchez should be able to use his political rights. The World Organisation Against Torture asked for an end to his "arbitrary pre-trial detention."

In May 2019, a United Nations group called the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asked Spain to release Jordi Sànchez and others. They also asked for an investigation into their detention and for them to be paid for the time they spent in jail. The Spanish government disagreed with this report.

After Jordi Sànchez was sentenced, Amnesty International again asked for his immediate release. They said that the way the Spanish Supreme Court interpreted the law could negatively affect the freedom to protest in Spain.

Jordi Sànchez was finally released in June 2021. This was part of a government pardon given to him and eight other politicians who were imprisoned because of the Catalan independence vote.

See also

In Spanish: Jordi Sànchez Picanyol para niños