Spanish court opens sedition probe of Catalonia officials

Spain’s high court launched a criminal investigation against the Catalan police chief and organisers of the disputed referendum, on suspicion of inciting rebellion against the state.

The summons to appear before the court this week came after the Spanish King charged that the Barcelona separatists were acting “outside the law and outside democracy”.

With each passing day, national authorities and the proindependence forces in Catalonia appear to be moving inexorably toward a dramatic confrontation.

Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan regional president and a leading secessionist, made a televised address defending the decision to stage a vote deemed illegal and unconstitutional by the courts. Puigdemont said Catalonia was united and “the people were doing what other peoples have done before them” — to chart their own destiny.

Yet in his short address, Puigdemont did not use the word “independence,” nor did he say what would happen next. Instead, the Catalan leader used the words “compromise,” “mediation,” “coexistence,” “peace” and “dialogue”.

He told the BBC: “We’re going to declare independence 48 hours after all the official results are counted.” All the votes from abroad would arrive and probably be counted by the end of the week. “Therefore, we will act over the weekend or early next week.”

Mireia Boya, a Catalan MP from the pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy party, said a declaration of independence would follow a parliamentary session on Monday local time. Preliminary results announced by the Catalan Government asserted that 90 per cent of the 2.2 million voters — a turnout of 42 per cent — supported independence.

The top target of the sedition probe is the chief of Catalonia’s regional police, Josep Lluı´s Trapero, whose officers refused to assist in a raid last month at Catalan government offices, where 14 officials were arrested and millions of ballots seized.