Trial of Catalan separatists begins in Madrid amid protests
MADRID — A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders began on Tuesday in Spain’s Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country.
The defendants are being tried on rebellion and other charges stemming from their roles in pushing ahead with a unilateral independence declaration in October 2017. The declaration was based on the results of a divisive secession referendum that ignored a constitutional ban.
The trial, arguably Spain’s most important in four decades of democracy, started as the future of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s minority government hinged on a last-minute change of position by Catalan proindependence parties to back his 2019 budget.
Sanchez could be forced to call an early election if the Catalan separatists, whose support brought the Socialists to power last year, don’t change their current position of voting against his spending plan today.
The separatists want Sanchez to agree to talks on selfdetermination for their region, but the government argues that Spain’s constitution doesn’t allow it.
Opening the parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Spanish Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero told Catalan lawmakers that the government would “not give in to any blackmail.”
“Under no circumstance will we agree to include the right to self-determination in Catalonia in any talking points,” she said.
Sanchez appeared to put more pressure on his opponents by tweeting that “the right-wing and the separatists will vote against a budget that helps social causes.”
“They both want the same thing: a Catalonia that is divided and a Spain that is divided,” he wrote.
In response, Catalan lawmakers said that despite the imminent vote today, there was still time for the government to “rectify.”
Tensions between regional and central authorities peaked with the 2017 breakaway attempt, but the conflict has been festering ever since. The 7.5 million residents of Catalonia remain divided by the secession question.
In Barcelona, thousands marched to a central square on Tuesday, demanding independence and criticizing Spain’s judiciary. Pro-independence activists briefly blocked highways and the entrance to the state prosecutor’s office before they were cleared by regional police.
In Madrid, right-wing protesters carrying national flags shouted as lawyers and three defendants who were free on bail entered the 18th-century convent that houses Spain’s top court.
Former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, the regional parliament’s former Speaker Carme Forcadell and the other 10 defendants sat on four benches in the middle of the courtroom.
Proceedings are likely to last for at least three months.