Spanish court rejects bail of Catalan nationalist Sanchez

Spanish Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena on Tuesday rejected the request of Catalan nationalist Jordi Sanchez to be allowed to leave prison following three and a half months in preventive custody.

Sanchez was sent to the Soto de Real jail outside of Madrid on Oct. 16, 2017 after being charged with sedition relating to a demonstration in Barcelona on Sept. 20, a week and a half before the Catalan independence referendum, which was subsequently declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The former leader of the pro-independence Catalan National Assembly (ANC) was elected as a member of the Catalan regional assembly as a representative of Carles Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) in the Dec. 21 election last year despite his imprisonment.

Judge Llarena based his argument for refusing Sanchez bail on the fact that JxCat still have the intention of "reestablishing the political dynamic" which led to the Oct. 1 referendum.

He said Sanchez had supported "mass mobilizations of people... against the territorial organization of the (Spanish) State."

Last week, Judge Llanera also refused bail to Joaquin Forn, the former interior spokesman for the Catalan authority.