Spain says nation’s chief prosecutor has died in Argentina

FILE: Mariano Rajoy (Photo by FDV – Own work, Public Domain)

MADRID — The Spanish government says the country’s top prosecutor has died in Argentina.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted the government*s condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of chief prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza on Saturday evening.

Spain*s private Europa Press news agency and other media outlets reported that Maza died Saturday in a Buenos Aires hospital where he had been admitted for an unspecified infection.

The 66-year-old Maza most recently led the investigation against ousted members of the Catalonia region’s government for alleged rebellion, sedition and embezzlement.

The investigation was launched as the regional government held an independence referendum that Spanish courts had ruled illegal and after Catalan lawmakers declared the region as a republic separate from Spain on Oct. 27.