Former Catalan cabinet members appear before Supreme Court

World
Europe

A judge will give his ruling on Monday on whether eight pro-independence Catalan politicians charged with sedition should be released from custody so they can contest a regional election set for Dec. 21, judicial sources said on Friday.

The eight former members of Catalonia's dismissed regional government appeared before the Supreme Court on Friday to request their release while they await trial in the wake of a disputed independence referendum.

Catalan leaders, who previously held a slim parliamentary majority, made a unilateral declaration of independence in defiance of Spanish law on Oct. 27, leading to their arrest and forcing Madrid to take direct control of the region and call the election.

The face-off between Barcelona and Madrid has tipped Spain into its worst political crisis in four decades, prompted more than 2,800 companies to move their legal headquarters out of the region, and forced the government to cut growth forecasts.

Former Catalan President Artur Mas gestures outside the Supreme Court in Madrid, Spain, December 1, 2017. /Reuters Photo

It has also deeply divided people in the wealthy northeastern region and caused resentment in the rest of Spain.

Sacked regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras, one of his ERC party’s main candidates for the election, has asked to be allowed to leave jail in order to campaign in the vote which was called by Madrid.

Junqueras and seven other former members of the Catalonia regional cabinet were jailed on Nov. 2 pending trial on charges of sedition, rebellion and misappropriation of funds after the Catalan government declared independence from Spain.

The Oct. 1 referendum, declared unconstitutional by Spain, and the subsequent proclamation of independence by the wealthy northeastern region pushed Spain into its worst political crisis in decades and led Madrid to impose direct rule on Barcelona.

The eight jailed cabinet members, whose original hearing was at the Spanish High Court, had their case moved to the Supreme Court after the presiding judge argued the different Catalan cases should be tried in the same court.

Earlier November, the Supreme Court released Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell on bail of 150,000 euros after she agreed to renounce any political activity that went against the Spanish constitution.

All the eight former cabinet members have said they would abide by a ruling giving Madrid control over the region, according to their lawyers, although some of them said they did not agree with this unprecedented move stripping power from the rebel administration.

Campaigning for the Dec. 21 election, seen by pro-independence parties as a de facto plebiscite on secession from Spain, starts on Monday at midnight.

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont poses at the launch of a campaign for political platform "Junts per Catalunya" ahead of the December 21, 2017 Catalan regional election, in Oostkamp, Belgium, November 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The former leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, in self-imposed exile in Belgium and subject to an arrest warrant from Spain for rebellion and misuse of public funds, has called the elections the most important in the region’s history.

Barely a quarter of Catalans want to continue with the project of creating an independent state, a recent survey by pollsters Metroscopia showed.

However, polls show the vote split evenly between parties seeking independence from Spain and those wanting to remain part of a united country.

The leaders of Catalan civic groups Asamblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) and Omnium Cultural Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart – who were imprisoned last month – also testify before the Supreme Court over their role in the independence drive.

Source(s): Reuters