Joaquim Forn

Joaquim Forn i Chiariello (born 1 April 1964) is a Spanish politician and lawyer from Catalonia.

Born in 1964 in Barcelona, Forn graduated from the University of Barcelona before joining the legal profession.

A supporter of Catalan independence, Forn joined the nationalist Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) whilst a student.

Forn was born on 1 April 1964 in Barcelona, capital of Catalonia in north eastern Spain.

He is the son of a Catalan and an Ecuadorian.

After being home schooled, he joined the Lycée Français de Barcelone aged 13, avoiding the Spanish francoist education.

After school Forn joined the University of Barcelona, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree.

Whilst a student he joined the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC), a conservative Catalan nationalist political party, now known as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), and helped re-establish the National Student Federation of Catalonia (Federació Nacional d'Estudiants de Catalunya, FNEC), a Catalan nationalist student organisation, serving as its president from 1986 to 1988.

After university Forn started working in a law firm.

In 1989 he joined the Acció Olímpica (Olympic Action) group that organised the Freedom for Catalonia campaign during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.

He was elected to the Municipality Council of Barcelona in 1999 and in 2011 he became the city's first deputy mayor, serving until 2015.

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 re-elected at the 2003 and 2007 local elections.

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.

Forn was re-elected at the 2015 local elections but the CiU lost control of Barcelona to Barcelona en Comú.

A former deputy mayor of the city of Barcelona in north-eastern Spain, Forn served as Minister of the Interior from July 2017 to October 2017 when he was removed from office following the Catalan declaration of independence.

He was appointed Minister of the Interior for Catalonia in July 2017.

On 1 October 2017, an independence referendum was held in Catalonia despite the Constitutional Court ruling that it breached the Spanish constitution.

92% supported independence though turnout was only 43% due to a boycott by unionists.

The Catalan Parliament declared independence on 27 October 2017 which resulted in the Spanish government imposing direct rule on Catalonia, dismissing the Catalan government, including Forn.

The Catalan Parliament was dissolved and fresh elections imposed by central government.

On 30 October 2017 charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds were brought against Forn and other members of the Catalan government.

Forn and Puigdemont, along with others, fled to Belgium, but on 31 October 2017 Forn returned to Spain.

On 2 November 2017 Forn and seven other Catalan ministers were remanded in custody by the Audiencia Nacional.

Six of the ministers were released on bail on 4 December 2017 but Forn and Vice President Oriol Junqueras were kept in custody.

At the regional elections held on 21 December 2017 Forn was elected to Parliament and Catalan secessionists retained a slim majority in the Catalan Parliament.

He was appointed Minister of the Interior for Catalonia in July 2017.

During his office, the 17 August 2017 terrorist attacks occurred.

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.

Forn resigned from Parliament in January 2018 but remains in prison.

During December 2018 he did a hunger strike.

On 1 February 2019 he was transferred to a prison in Madrid, waiting for the trial that started on 12 February.

In the 2019 Barcelona City Council election, he was head of the Together for Catalonia candidacy to Mayor of Barcelona.

He was not able to participate in the electoral campaign while in prison.

The Supreme Court allowed him to collect the councilor's credentials on 14 June and took office on 15 June.

He was pardoned and released, along with the other 8 jailed Catalonia independence leaders, in June 2021.