Judge imposes restrictions on Catalonia police chief

● Trapero has passport withdrawn as sedition case against him investigated

A Spanish judge has remanded two key members of the Catalan independence movement in jail.

Jordi Sánchez, who heads the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), and Jordi Cuixart, leader of Omnium Cultural, were last night being held without bail while they are investigated for sedition. They are viewed as key figures in organising a 1 October independence vote, which Spanish courts suspended and which was branded illegal by the national government in Madrid.

The decision came only hours after the court said Catalonia’s regional police chief could remain free with restrictions.

The National Court judge rejected a prosecutor’s request to jail Major Josep Lluis Trapero over the independence vote. But the judge withdrew Trapero’s passport, said he must remain in Spain and ordered him to appear in court every two weeks.

Spanish police arrested several Catalan officials and raided offices in a crackdown on referendum preparations during the 20-21 September demonstrations in Barcelona.

The court said the rulings could be changed if Trapero disobeys the conditions.

0 Josep Luis Trapero, right, arrives at the High Court in Madrid for questioning yesterday

Spain’s deputy prime minister also said Catalonia’s leader did not give an adequate response in his letter about the region’sindependenceandhas until Thursday to comply with the country’s laws.

Carles Puigdemont’s letter, issued two hours before yesterday’s deadline, did not clarify whether he in fact declared Catalonia’s independence from Spain. He called for talks with Spain’s government.

Spain’s central government wanted a simple “yes” or “no” answer from Mr Puigdemont, something that Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that he did not provide.

Ms Saenz de Santamaria said that “it wasn’t very difficult to say yes or no. That was the question that was asked and the response shouldn’t be complicated.”

She said he has until Thursday morning to fall in line, or faces the possibility of Spain activating Article 155 of the Constitution which would allow the central government to take over parts of Catalonia’s self-governance.

She said Mr Puigdemont’s call for dialogue was “not credible”.

Mr Puigdemont had called for dialogue with Madrid and asked for a meeting with the country’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy, complying with a deadline of yesterday to respond to a request from the central government to state explicitly whether he had declared Catalonian independence.

Mr Puigdemont wrote in his four-page letter: “The priority of my government is to intensively seek a path to dialogue.”