9 Catalan separatists jailed over sedition

SPAIN’S Supreme Court yesterday sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to 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 but not jailed.

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.

“This sentence is an attack on democracy and the rights of all citizens,” the head of the regional parliament Roger Torrent said.

Former head of Catalonia’s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, said the prison sentences were an “atrocity.”

The longest prison term — 13 years — went to the former deputy leader of the 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, the court ruling showed.

“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 Supreme Court also issued an European arrest warrant for Puigdemont. Puigdemont was the head of the Spanish region during its failed bid to break away from Spain. He now lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium. In July 2018, the Spanish court dropped a warrant after Germany refused to extradite him.

The government has said it was ready to take direct control of Catalonia as it did in 2017 if secessionist leaders break the law.

In Barcelona, three main streets were blocked by protesters holding signs calling for “Freedom for political prisoners” and a crowd chanted “We’ll do it again” — a slogan used by separatist supporters who want to hold another referendum.

Protesters blocked train and metro access to the Barcelona airport and others temporarily halted traffic on the A2 highway, as well as on several regional roads across Catalonia, officials at the road traffic agency said.

The regional train network was interrupted in the separatist stronghold of Girona by people standing on the tracks, wrapped in pro-independence flags.

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

The jailed separatists said via social media that they would carry on their fight.

(Reuters)