Former Catalan leader banned from office

MADRID: The former head of Spain’s Catalonia region was barred from public office for two years on Monday for staging an informal referendum on independence in 2014 at a time when secessionist leaders are trying to drum up support for a fresh ballot.

Artur Mas — who was regional governor in 2014 when proindependence campaigners held a symbolic referendum in breach of a legal order — was found guilty of contempt of court, Catalonia’s Superior Court of Justice said.

“We would do exactly the same thing as we are democrats and we are obliged, as democrats, to listen to the people and obey their mandate at the polls... We will appeal in Spain and then take the case to European courts, if we need to,” Mas said during a conference after the ruling.

The trial has further strained relations between pro-independence political parties in Catalonia and Spain’s central government as a long-running battle over the region’s attempts to hold a referendum on secession reaches a tipping point.

Leaders in Catalonia, a wealthy region with its own language and distinct culture, have vowed to move ahead with another referendum on secession in September in spite of opposition from Spain’s centre-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Separatist parties, which hold a majority in the local Catalan assembly, rallied behind Mas during his trial and the court case galvanised pro-independence supporters.

“A mistake! What a difference compared to consolidated and healthy democracies,” current regional head Carles Puigdemont said via Twitter following the announcement and the news of calls for a second referendum in Scotland.