Spain's Constitutional Court fines 24 Catalan officials up to 12,000 euros a day

For the first time, the Spanish Constitutional Court has issued fines for disobeying the law. The subjects of the exceptional measure are Catalan officials associated with the October 1 referendum. The court issued fines to 24 officials on Thursday, including electoral board members and electoral administrative heads.

Fines add up to almost 200,000 euros a day

The amounts range from 6,000 to 12,000 euros a day for each official. The Constitutional Court ruled that the daily fines will last until all its rulings concerning the October 1 vote are enforced. In practice, the judges might stop the fines should the Catalan government give up its plans to go ahead with the referendum. The fines will come into effect the day after the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE in Spanish) publishes the ruling, which could be on Friday. The daily fines add up 192,000 euros, which over 10 days would be 1.92 million euros. In fact, from Thursday, 10 days remain until the October 1 referendum.