Spanish SC charges 13 Catalan separatists with rebellion

Spanish Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llanera on Friday charged 13 Catalan separatist leaders with rebellion, a crime which carries a possible prison sentence of up to 30 years imprisonment.

In total, the Judge ruled that 25 Catalan leaders will face various charges ranging from rebellion, misuse of public funds and disobedience.

In a 70-page ruling on the events which led up to the Oct. 1 independence referendum, which was declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court, and the Oct. 27 unilateral declaration of independence, the Judge said the Catalan regional government had been "drawing up a route map for Catalonia's transition process towards becoming an independent country," since 2012.

He said the independence "process" had continued, "despite repeated warnings that these parliamentary initiatives were unconstitutional and invalid."

The charges were brought against former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont (currently in exile in Belgium) and Jordi Turull, who on Saturday faces a second vote to see if he can become the new Catalan leader after losing a confidence vote on Thursday.

Others to face the charges are Puigdemont's former vice-president Oriol Junqueras (who has been in preventive prison since November), the former speaker of the Catalan parliament Carme Forcadell, and Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez, who have spent the past five months in jail facing charges of sedition.

One person who did not appear at the court hearing was Marta Rovira, the General Secretary of the Republic Left Party. Rovira, who has also been charged with rebellion, decided to leave the county and take what she described in a letter as "the hard road to exile."

It is not yet certain whether the accused will be granted bail or sent to prison to await trial as the Spanish Prosecutor has requested, although if Turull were sent to prison that would make it impossible for him to be elected as Catalan leader on Saturday.