Court sends 30 to trial over independence referendum preparations
Defendants, including public officials and businesspeople, face charges less severe than imprisoned top politicians
Defendants, including public officials and businesspeople, face charges less severe than imprisoned top politicians
Which courts are handling them, who the defendants are, and what they're charged with
President condemns decision to prosecute 30 individuals over 2017 independence vote, while unionist opposition calls his show of support "shameful"
Inquiry included officials and businesses that allegedly contributed to organizing the October 1 referendum
Many representatives from the Catalan Government attended on Sunday the demonstration in Barcelona to defend the Catalan institutions from Spain’s legal attacks. “The rally empowers the institutions to continue the process towards independence”, Catalan Government Spokeswoman Neus Munté stated. The politician referred to the demonstration as “the best contrast between the decay of a political system, the Spanish one, which persecutes democracy, and one nation and the Catalan institutions that stand up for it and which will continue to do so”. “Any true democrat should feel challenged by what is happening”, she added. Several Catalan Government representatives are facing court cases sought by the Spanish Government for having staged the 9-N vote in 2014. Those politicians summonsed include Catalonia's former President, Artur Mas, the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and former Catalan Ministers, Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs and Irene Rigau. All of them attended the protest.
The main pro-independence associations in Catalonia, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) have organised a rally this Sunday the 13th of November to protest against the judicialisation of politics. “It is time to say we’ve had enough” ANC’s President, Jordi Sánchez, stated earlier this week. According to the organisers, the civil society has repeatedly “shown its strength” through massive pro-independence rallies and now it is time to do it again. One of the most talked-about examples of Spain’s use of the court in order to stop Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations and the peoples’ right to vote was the summonsing in October last year of former Catalan Artur Mas and former Catalan Ministers, Joana Ortega, Francesc Homs and Irene Rigau for co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. However, there are more than 400 towns and villages which have cases pending with the Spanish State for different political reasons.