After university Forn started working in a
law firm. Forn contested the
1999 local elections as a
Convergence and Union (CiU)
electoral alliance candidate in Barcelona and was elected. In May 2000 he was beaten and his arm broken by the
National Police Corps (Policía Nacional) as he took part in a demonstration against a
Spanish Army parade on
Montjuïc, in the
Sants district of Barcelona, celebrating Armed Forces Day (Día de las Fuerzas Armadas). He was CiU group spokesman on the city council from 2007 to 2011. At the
2011 local elections, in which Forn we re-elected, the CiU ended the
Socialists's 32-year rule in Barcelona and Forn became first deputy mayor. He was spokesman of the city government, president of
Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, vice-president of the
Autoritat del Transport Metropolità's board of directors, and an advisor and member of the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona's board of governors. He was appointed
Minister of the Interior for Catalonia in July 2017. During his office, the
17 August 2017 terrorist attacks occurred.
Catalonia independence crisis In June 2017
President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont announced that a
referendum on Catalan independence would be held on 1 October 2017. The Catalan Parliament passed
legislation on 6 September 2017 authorising the referendum which would be binding and based on a simple majority without a minimum threshold. The following day
Constitutional Court of Spain suspended the legislation, blocking the referendum. The
Spanish government put into effect
Operation Anubis in order to disrupt the organisation of the referendum and arrested
Catalan government officials. Despite this the referendum went ahead though it was boycotted by
unionists and turnout was only 43%. 92% of those who voted supported independence. Around 900 people were injured as the
Spanish police used violence to try to prevent voting in the referendum. On 27 October 2017 the Catalan Parliament
declared independence in a vote boycotted by opposition MPs. Almost immediately the
Senate of Spain invoked article 155 of the constitution, dismissing Puigdemont and the
Catalan government and imposing
direct rule on Catalonia. The following day
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament and called for fresh regional elections on 21 December 2017. On 30 October 2017
Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza laid charges of
rebellion,
sedition and misuse of public funds at the
Audiencia Nacional against Puigdemont, Forn and other members of the Catalan government. The charges carry maximum sentences of 30, 15 and 6 years in prison respectively. Forn, Puigdemont and four other Catalan ministers (
Dolors Bassa,
Meritxell Borràs,
Antoni Comín and
Meritxell Serret) arrived in
Belgium on 30 October 2017. According to Spanish media the group had driven to
Marseille shortly after the charges were laid before the Audiencia Nacional and from there flown to
Brussels. Forn and Bassa flew back to Barcelona on 31 October 2017 where they were met at
El Prat Airport by a group of
Spanish nationalists hurling abuse and taunting the former ministers. The
flag waving group shouted "off to prison", "dogs", "traitors" and "where is your republic?" through
megaphones and pursued Forn as he left the airport, causing the
Mossos d'Esquadra to intervene.
Imprisonment On 2 November 2017 Audiencia Nacional judge
Carmen Lamela remanded in custody Forn and seven other Catalan ministers (Bassa, Borrás,
Oriol Junqueras, Carles Mundó,
Raül Romeva, Josep Rull and
Jordi Turull) as she considered them a flight risk. The jailed ministers were separated and sent to five different prisons: Bassa and Borrás to Alcalá, Junqueras and Forn to
Estremera, Mundó to
Aranjuez prison, Romeva and Turull to
Valdemoro and Rull to
Navalcarnero. A ninth minister,
Santi Vila, was freed on
bail as he had resigned from the government the day before the declaration of independence, but had to spend a night in Estremera prison whilst his lawyers secured his €50,000 bail. According to their lawyer
Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, the ministers were mistreated whilst being transported to prison. They were allegedly handcuffed behind their backs without seat belts in a van going very fast, forced to listen to the
Spanish national anthem on a loop and threatened by their guards. Mundo allegedly suffered injuries due to the handcuffs and two ministers were allegedly forced to strip to prevent them carrying anything into prison. On 1 December 2017 the eight jailed ministers and two jailed independence activists -
Jordi Cuixart and
Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol - appeared before
Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena to request bail while they await trial. They renounced the declaration of independence, pledged support for the imposition of direct rule and agreed to work within the law. On 4 December 2017 Llarena released, after 32 days in prison, six of the ministers (Bassa, Borrás, Mundó, Romeva, Rull and Turull) on bail of €100,000 but ordered that their passports be confiscated. However, Forn and Junqueras, together with Cuixart and Sànchez, were refused bail. In denying them bail, Llarena claimed that it remained to be seen if their pledge to abide by Spanish law was "truthful and real" and that there was a risk that they would commit the same crimes if released. Whilst remaining in prison, Forn contested the
2017 regional election as a
Together for Catalonia (JuntsxCat) electoral alliance candidate in the
Province of Barcelona and was elected to the
Parliament of Catalonia. A
Christmas crib sent to Forn and Junqueras in prison was returned to its sender Antoni Bargalló smashed and with
Viva España scrawled on the box. Cuixart, Forn and Sànchez appeared before Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena on 11 January 2018 to secure release from prison. At the hearing Forn testified that, although he did not renounce Catalan independence, he would only seek to achieve this by reforming the Spanish constitution and if the Catalan government sought to achieve independence unilaterally he would resign from Parliament. On 12 January 2018, at a separate hearing for Junqueras, Llarena opened the way for the three jailed MPs - Forn, Junqueras and Sànchez - to
vote by proxy in the Catalan Parliament. When the Catalan Parliament met on 17 January 2018 it allowed the three jailed MPs to vote by proxy, with Turull voting for Forn and Sànchez. Forn resigned from Parliament with effect from 24 January 2018 in order to secure his freedom. Despite this, on 2 February 2018, Llarena refused Forn's application for release on bail, saying that Forn's refusal to give up support for independence meant that there was a risk that he would re-offend. The testimony by Spanish army colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, who was in charge of Spanish security forces during the crackdown against the independence referendum, was seen as key to keeping Forn in prison. On 7 March 2018 the High Commissioner of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reminded Spanish authorities that "
pre-trial detention should be considered a measure of last resort" referring to Catalan politicians and activists arrested after the independence referendum. On 3 December 2018, he went on a
hunger strike, ended on 20 December. The trial ended and was remitted to decision on 12 June 2019. On 14 October 2019, he was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison and disqualification for sedition crime. The verdict was delivered by 7 judges at Spain's supreme court, after a 4-month trial that heard from 422 witnesses.
Pardon He was pardoned and released, along with the other 8
jailed Catalonia independence leaders, in June 2021. Prime Minister
Pedro Sánchez said that he pardoned them because it was the best decision for Spain and Catalonia, but did not overturn their bans from holding public office. ==Personal life==