Catalan pro-independence leaders tried in Court of Auditors

Around 30 Catalan political leaders from the past decade, including former presidents Carles Puigdemont and Artur Mas, were on trial in Spain's Court of Auditors in a case that began on Friday.

The trial relates to foreign action the Catalan government put forward between 2011 and 2017 and its links to the independence push that peaked in 2017 with the referendum that had been deemed illegal by Spain.

Former vice president and economy minister, Oriol Junqueras, was another of the prominent names included in the case, as well as other high-ranking officials during that time, including Albert Royo, former head of Diplocat public diplomacy entity.

The trial focused on the expenses of the government in the years leading to the 2017 referendum spent on foreign action, which the judiciary suspects to be in reality efforts to get international support in the event of a split from Spain.

The public prosecutor believes €3.1 million was spent for those aims. Elsewhere, the pro-Spanish unity civic entity Societat Civil Catalana, acting as a private prosecutor in the case, claims more than €5 million for the costs of holding the 2017 referendum and for "foreign policy" promoting it abroad. 

Other relevant defendants in the case are former councilors Francesc Homs, Andreu Mas-Colell, Raül Romeva; former general secretaries such as Albert Royo, Joaquim Nin and Aleix Villatoro; secretaries of departments and delegates of the Generalitat abroad.

The defenses had asked for the case to be filed or canceled entirely, pointing to the expected amnesty law which would cover most if not all defendants, while the defense teams also questioned the legitimacy of the procedure.

In addition, they pointed out that the events were time-barred, as more than 5 years have passed.