Six high-ranking Catalan police officials investigated for rebellion over referendum

Six high-ranking Catalan police officials are being investigated for their role in last year's October 1 independence referendum.

A local court in Cornellà de Llobregat, in Barcelona’s metropolitan area, has summoned them to appear in court in December to answer charges of rebellion, sedition and disobedience, offenses that carry sentences of up to 30 years behind bars.

This senior officers include the head of the legal advisory team, four commissioners, and two superintendents.

The far-right Vox party, which recently held a 10,000-strong event in Madrid, is the private prosecutor for the case. It claims that the Mossos d’Esquadra police presence was organized by its former chief, Josep Lluís Trapero, who is already being prosecuted for sedition and criminal organization by the Spanish National Court.

After the referendum, the Mossos leadership was accused of deliberately not doing enough to prevent the vote from going ahead, or to prevent the public's attempts to impede the Spanish police raids on September 20, 2017.