Ex-parliament speaker indicted for allowing chamber to vote on independence and monarchy

Catalonia's High Court has indicted former parliament speaker and current business minister Roger Torrent as well as three ex-parliament bureau members for allowing votes on resolutions on independence as well as the Spanish monarchy two years ago.

Torrent, Josep Costa, Eusebi Campdepadró, and Adriana Delgado have been accused of disobedience for contravening Spain's Constitutional Court's orders and could be barred from office.

This comes just over two weeks after Costa was arrested for refusing to give a statement in the court, which announced in March that it had decided to admit a criminal lawsuit from Spain's public prosecutor.

The top Catalan court is expected to try them for the events that took place in November 2019 in the wake of the sentencing of the 9 2017 referendum organizers as well as a wave of protests and violent clashes with police across Catalonia. 

The motions, which were passed on November 12, 2019 and saw subsequent amendments on November 26, were backed by the pro-independence majority in the chamber.

One of the texts stressed that Parliament "reiterates and will reiterate as many times as MPs choose its disapproval of the monarchy, the defense of self-determination and the affirmation of the sovereignty of the people of Catalonia to decide their political future."