{"id":234576,"date":"2019-10-14T19:44:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T23:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=234576"},"modified":"2019-10-14T19:44:24","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T23:44:24","slug":"spain-convicts-prominent-catalan-separatists-protests-erupt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/14\/spain-convicts-prominent-catalan-separatists-protests-erupt\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain convicts prominent Catalan separatists, protests erupt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Supreme Court of Spain in Madrid (aerial view) (Photo By FDV – Own work\/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MADRID \u2014 Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced 12 prominent former Catalan politicians and activists to lengthy prison terms for their roles in a 2017 bid to gain independence for Catalonia, sparking protests across the wealthy Spanish region.<\/p>\n

The landmark ruling, after a four-month trial, inflamed independence supporters in the northeastern region bordering France where Catalan identity is a passionate issue.<\/p>\n

Within hours, police in riot gear clashed with protesters gathering at Barcelona’s airport. Police used batons to drive back a crowd near the entrance to the subway inside the airport’s main terminal. The subway line to the airport was closed on police orders. The protests snarled traffic along airport access roads.<\/p>\n

Nine of the Catalans on trial for their efforts to achieve independence received between nine and 13 years in prison for sedition. Four of them were additionally convicted for misuse of public funds, and three more were fined for disobedience. The Spanish Constitution says the country can’t be divided.<\/p>\n

Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said he hoped the sentence would mark a watershed in the long standoff between national authorities in Madrid and separatists in the Catalan capital Barcelona. Sanchez said the court’s verdict proved the 2017 secession attempt had become \u201ca shipwreck.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged people to \u201cset aside extremist positions\u201d and \u201cembark on a new phase\u201d for Catalonia.<\/p>\n

Authorities will respond firmly to any attempt to break the law, Sanchez said in a live television address, as thousands of people joined protest marches. Some protesters held banners saying, \u201cFree political prisoners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spanish authorities deployed hundreds of extra police to the region in anticipation of the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, they have violated all their rights. It is horrible that Europe doesn’t act,\u201d 60-year-old civil servant Beni Saball said at a Barcelona street protest, referring to those convicted.<\/p>\n

But retired 73-year-old bank clerk Jordi Casares said he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fair because they went outside the law,\u201d he said, walking out of his home on a Barcelona street. \u201cI hope that after a few days of tumult by the separatists the situation can improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catalan regional president Quim Torra described the verdict as \u201can act of vengeance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spanish state’s refusal to launch a dialogue and seek a democratic solution to the political conflict will not stop us from acting on our determination to build an independent state for our nation,\u201d Torra said in a speech in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Spain’s caretaker foreign minister Josep Borrell, soon due to become the European Union’s top diplomat, urged an effort at political and social healing because the independence effort is doomed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no single constitution of Europe that provides the possibility of creating unilaterally the independence of a part of the territory,\u201d he told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

In their ruling, the seven Supreme Court judges wrote that what the Catalan leaders presented as a legitimate exercise of the right to decide was in fact \u201cbait\u201d to mobilize citizens and place pressure on the Spanish government to grant a referendum on independence.<\/p>\n

Although prosecutors had requested convictions for the more severe crime of rebellion, which under Spanish law implies the use of violence to subvert the constitutional order, judges convicted nine defendants of sedition, implying that they encouraged public disorder to subvert the law.<\/p>\n

Ex-Catalan regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras was sentenced to 13 years for sedition.<\/p>\n

He and three other former Cabinet members \u2014 Raul Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa, who were sentenced to 12 years \u2014 were also convicted for misuse of public funds.<\/p>\n

The former regional parliament speaker, Carme Forcadell, was given 11 1\/2 years in prison; ex-Cabinet members Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull 10 1\/2 years each; and grassroots pro-independence activists Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart got nine years.<\/p>\n

Three other former members of the Catalan Cabinet \u2014 Santiago Vila, Meritxell Borras y Carles Mundo \u2014 were fined for disobedience.<\/p>\n

All of them were barred from holding public office.<\/p>\n

A Supreme Court judge later issued an international arrest warrant for fugitive ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who with several others fled to Belgium in October 2017 when they were summoned to appear in court.<\/p>\n

Judge Pablo Llarena issued the request on charges of sedition and misuse of public funds. Spain issued a first warrant back in 2017 but later withdrew it after a German court ruled that Puigdemont couldn’t be extradited to Spain for rebellion, one of the initial charges.<\/p>\n

Catalonia has powers to run its own prisons, unlike the rest of Spain’s regions. That means regional authorities can allow inmates to spend the night in prison Monday-Thursday and have the rest of the time at home. Such a step for those convicted Monday would likely invite legal challenges, however.<\/p>\n

The trial featured over 500 witnesses, including former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and 50 nationally televised hearings.<\/p>\n

At the centre of the prosecutors’ case was the Oct. 1, 2017 independence referendum that the Catalan government held even though the country’s highest court had disallowed it.<\/p>\n

The \u201cYes\u201d vote won, but because it was an illegal ballot most voters didn’t turn out and the vote count was considered of dubious value. The Catalan Parliament, however, unilaterally declared independence three weeks later, triggering Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.<\/p>\n

The separatist effort fell flat when it won no international recognition. The Spanish government stepped in and fired the Catalan regional government, with prosecutors later bringing charges.<\/p>\n

Defence lawyers argued that the leaders of the secessionist movement were carrying out the will of roughly half of the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia who, opinion polls indicate, would like the region to be a separate country.<\/p>\n

The Catalan leaders \u2014 jailed for nearly two years while their case was heard \u2014 have grown into powerful symbols for the separatists. Many sympathizers wear yellow ribbons pinned to their clothes as a sign of protest.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Joseph Wilson in Barcelona and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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