Spain apex court jails 9 Catalan separatist leaders for sedition

Madrid, October 14 

Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine separatist leaders from Catalonia between nine and 13 years in prison for sedition over their role in a failed independence bid, triggering protests across the region.

Three other defendants who were also on trial for their involvement in the October 2017 referendum held in spite of a ban and a short-lived independence declaration, were found guilty only of disobedience and not sentenced to prison.

All defendants were acquitted of the gravest charge, rebellion, but leading separatists were quick to condemn the court’s decision and the jailed men sent out messages of defiance, urging people to take to the streets.

Former head of Catalonia’s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, said the prison sentences were an “atrocity”, and the head of the regional parliament Roger Torrent called them an “attack on democracy”.

In Barcelona, three main streets were blocked by protesters holding signs calling for “Freedom for political prisoners”. Outside the pro-independence Omnium Cultural headquarters in Barcelona, a crowd chanted “We’ll do it again” - a slogan used by separatist supporters who want to hold another referendum.

Protesters in Tarragona blocked the A7 highway to Barcelona and several regional roads across Catalonia, officials at the Catalan road traffic agency said. An earlier disruption to the regional train network outside the town of Girona, a separatist stronghold, had ended.

Much is at stake in how the court’s decision will be received, both for Spain and for its wealthiest region.

Catalonia’s independence drive attracted worldwide attention and triggered Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades and unnerved financial markets.

Spanish authorities are keen to avoid any condemnation from abroad of the sentence as too draconian, and the separatist movement will have to decide how to react to the ruling.

The jailed separatists said via social media that they would carry on their fight. “Nine years in prison won’t end my optimism. Catalonia will be independent if we persist. Let us demonstrate without fear, let us move forward determinedly from non-violence to freedom,” said Jordi Sanchez, who was sentenced to nine years in jail. Sanchez was the leader of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) grassroots movement.

The regional head of Catalonia, separatist Quim Torra, called for an amnesty for all 12 leaders and said he would seek an urgent meeting with Spain’s King Felipe VI and acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

“We demand the release of political prisoners and of those in exile. We demand amnesty ... for all those who have been persecuted,” Torra said in a televised speech.

The longest prison term of 13 years went to former deputy leader of Catalan regional government Oriol Junqueras.

The court convicted Junqueras and eight other leaders on charges of sedition and four of them of misuse of public funds.

“What happened on October 1 was not just a demonstration or a massive act of citizen protest. If that had been the case, there would have been no criminal sentencing. It was a tumultuous uprising encouraged by the accused, among many others,” the Madrid court said in its ruling, delivered in writing rather than in an open session.

The CDR grassroots movement said, “It’s time to rise up against the authoritarian fascism of the Spanish state and its accomplices. It is time for the #RevoltaPopular.” — Reuters

Arrest warrant for ex- Regional chief  

• Spain’s Supreme Court issued an European arrest warrant for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, following the sentencing of nine other separatist leaders 
• Puigdemont was the head of Spanish region during its failed 2017 bid to break away from Spain. At  present, he lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium
• In July 2018, the Spanish Supreme court had dropped a warrant after Germany refused to extradite Puigdemont