Former speaker Carme Forcadell testifies in court

The former parliament speaker Carme Forcadell, began her testimony in the independence trial on Tuesday afternoon.

She is the last defendant to testify in the proceedings, after on Tuesday morning the activist Jordi Cuixart took the stand.

Forcadell has been one of the main key players in the road to independence since its beginning in 2012. The first years, she was leader of a large grassroots pro-independence organization, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), and from 2015 as parliament speaker.

The Spanish Constitutional Court sent her several warnings and the Spanish prosecutor filed criminal lawsuits against her while in office, for allowing debates and votes on independence. Forcadell, however, repeatedly stated that she always respected freedom of speech and the rights of MPs.