One year on, Catalan politicians still in prison as trial nears

If last year’s referendum and declaration of independence marked a turning point in Catalan politics, none of Spain's responses —neither the suspension of self-rule, nor the sacking of government officials, nor the calling of a new election— can match the importance of the imprisonment of the pro-independence leaders.

On November 2, 2017, eight ousted ministers were sent to jail without bail. Some of them were subsequently released— only to later enter jail again. Along with the two pro-independence activists who were sent to prison two weeks earlier, on October 16, 2017, there are currently nine people in pre-trial jail for their role in the independence bid.

Although Spain’s Supreme Court later took over the case, it was the National Court that preemptively imprisoned the government officials, following accusations by the general prosecutor.

On Friday, the prosecutor is expected to announce the official accusations before the trial starts in the coming months.

As of now, all imprisoned politicians and activists face rebellion charges—one of the most serious offences in the criminal code, which carry prison sentences of up to 30 years.

Former government officials are also accused of misuse of public funds for allegedly allocating money from the administration to pay for the October 1 referendum, deemed illegal by the Spanish courts.  

The leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) party and former vice president, Oriol Junqueras, along with the interior minister at the time of the referendum, Joaquim Forn, are the only officials who have not left prison since first being imprisoned a year ago.

Former Catalan ministers who were first imprisoned for a month and later sent to jail on March 23 include Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa, and Josep Rull.

Carme Forcadell, the parliament speaker who allowed MPs to vote on independence, was also sent to pre-trial jail on March 23. She had previously spent a night in prison on November 2, but was released after paying €150,000 bail.