Suspects tell of plot to storm Catalan parliament and test explosives

Pedro Sánchez said the ‘net was closing on the radicals’ and their claims of nonviolence were undermined

CATALAN independence activists being investigated by a Spanish court have admitted to knowledge of a plan to storm Catalonia’s parliament, and carrying out bomb-making experiments.

According to footage of interrogations obtained by several Spanish media outlets, two suspects belonging to a pro-independence group have confirmed some of the accusations levelled at them. An 18-month-long police operation into the so-called Committee in Defence of the Republic (CDR) led to seven arrests in September.

In one video clip, Ferran Jolis, an IT expert and CDR member, tells the National Court investigating judge that he was asked to work on the communications aspect of a plan to stage an occupation of Catalonia’s parliament with Quim Torra, the Catalan president.

Mr Jolis said he was told the idea to occupy the Barcelona parliament building “came from on high, from the presidency – Torra”. However, in a brief statement released yesterday, Mr Torra denied knowing any of the suspects and said the accusations “don’t have a shred of credibility”.

According to the transcript of a phone conversation between two of the alleged plotters, the occupation was intended to last a week and draw international attention to Catalonia’s independence campaign.

Another detainee, Jordi Ros, is seen telling the judge that he had carried out experiments with thermite and nitrocellulose to make explosives, although he said he never intended to actually make bombs.

According to investigators from Spain’s Guardia Civil, the suspects had photographs and maps detailing security forces’ headquarters, railway infrastructures and electricity installations.

Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, said the “net was closing in on the radicals”. He also challenged Mr Torra to appear before Catalonia’s parliament to respond to information which appears to undermine the claim that the independence movement is entirely non-violent.

In an interview on the Lasexta television station, Mr Sánchez apologised for having said that he had ordered Spain’s public prosecution service to seek the extradition of Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia who moved to Belgium to avoid going on trial for his role in an illegal independence referendum in 2017.

Prosecutors’ associations have pointed out that they are independent from the government.

Laura Borràs, the leading candidate for Mr Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya party in Sunday’s general election, rejected the investigation’s findings, stating that Spain’s judiciary could not credibly claim to be independent. “They have proved that there is no separation of powers,” he said.