Madrid, March 22 (IANS) Jordi Sanchez on Wednesday officially renounced his candidacy to be the next leader of Spain’s Catalan region.

Sanchez, the leader of the separatist Catalan National Assembly and second in command in the Junts per Cat (JperC) electoral lists behind Carles Puigdemont in the December vote, has spent almost five months in jail outside of Madrid awaiting trial on charges of sedition.

Those charges relate to a pro-Catalan independence protest in Barcelona on September 20 last year and if found guilty he faces a prison sentence of 15 years, reports Xinhua.

Former Catalan leader Puigdemont withdrew his candidacy from his self-imposed exile in Belgium in order to avoid charges of sedition and rebellion levelled against him. Sanchez was chosen as his replacement.

Sanchez is reported to have told a judge in a court appearance on Monday in which he again requested bail that he was willing to renounce both his candidacy and his seat in the Catalan parliament in order for this to happen.

Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent said after Sanchez renounced his candidacy, that the decision was “the best service” he (Sanchez) could perform and an “act of generosity”.

Torrent announced the start of a third round of talks to try and form a government with former Catalan regional government spokesman Jordi Turull, a member of Puigdemont’s JperC party, who is expected to be named as the new candidate.

Turull is currently out of prison on bail as he too awaits trial on charges related to the Catalan independence process. He too could be banned from holding office in the near future. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption With the election of Roger Torrent as speaker, separatist MPs have control of Catalonia's parliament

Catalan MPs in Barcelona have elected a pro-independence speaker at their first meeting since Madrid dissolved the region's parliament.

The choice of Roger Torrent is the first step to reinstating local government.

Separatist parties, who remain dominant after December's election, want Carles Puigdemont to be president again.

But the ex-leader risks arrest if he returns from self-imposed exile in Belgium.

He is wanted by Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition over last year's independence drive.

And Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy says Catalonia's autonomous powers will not be restored, if the regional parliament permits Mr Puigdemont to lead the government from exile.

Mr Rajoy took direct control of the region - sacking its leaders and dissolving its parliament - after Mr Puigdemont and his government declared independence in October.

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Separatist lawmakers secured control of parliament on Wednesday with the election of Mr Torrent, a member of the left-wing separatist ERC party.

He beat an anti-independence candidate by 65 votes to 56.

The session was broadcast to a flag-waving crowd outside.

ERC's leader, Oriol Junqueras, is among three Catalan MPs in prison awaiting trial over the independence push. But they were allowed to vote to select a parliamentary speaker via proxies.

Five others in self-imposed exile in Belgium did not assign proxies. Yellow ribbons were placed on their empty seats.

The MPs also met to select a board who will decide who gets the first chance to form a government. It will have two weeks to pick a president.

It is likely to nominate Mr Puigdemont to lead the region, and his supporters say he could potentially do so via video link from Belgium.

Mr Puigdemont's spokesman, Joan Maria Piqué, told the BBC's Gavin Lee that it was perfectly plausible for him to be president remotely. He pointed to how Donald Trump uses Twitter as a prime source of interaction in the US.

But lawyers for the Catalan parliament council, an advisory body, have said it would not be legal or within the Spanish constitution to allow for a president in exile. </s> MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the political crisis in Catalonia (all times local):

The speaker of Catalonia's parliament has postponed a session intended to re-elect the Spanish region's fugitive ex-president.

Roger Torrent announced the decision Tuesday, hours before the session he had called to hold a vote authorizing separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to form a government.

The decision comes after Spain's top court had ruled Puigdemont, who faces arrest in Spain, would have to return from Belgium and ask a judge permission to attend the session.

Torrent says he will reconvene the session once Spanish authorities guarantee they "won't interfere" in the election of Puigdemont.

Puigdemont is the focus of an investigation into October's illegal— and unsuccessful— declaration of independence.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is urging the Catalan parliament not to press ahead with the candidacy of fugitive leader Carles Puigdemont for regional president and instead to opt for a lawmaker free of legal proceedings.

Speaking Tuesday on Spanish National Television hours before the parliament is scheduled to hold an investiture vote for Puigdemont, Rajoy said the parliament speaker will face legal consequences if he disobeys a Constitutional Court order saying Puigdemont can only be voted on if he is physically present and has previously obtained court permission.

Puigdemont faces arrest if he returns to Spain.

Rajoy said the "most sensible" thing for the parliament speaker would be to propose a "clean candidate" who is willing to obey the law and work for the return of normality in Catalonia.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Spain's parliament on Friday suspended four Catalan politicians currently on trial at the Supreme Court for their alleged participation separatist referendum back in 2017 from taking their seats in the national parliament.

The speaker of the country's lower chamber, the Congress of Deputies, Socialist Party (PSOE) member Meritxell Batet, told reporters the decision had been made by the speaker's committee following consultations with Parliament and the Supreme Court.

Batet acknowledged that parliament was faced with an "unprecedented" situation and that the committee had acted to safeguard legislative power and guarantee the rights of parliamentarians.

"The speaker's committee of the Congress of Deputies has agreed to automatically suspend from their positions and therefore their rights and duties established in the rules of the chamber the right honorable members Mr. Oriol Junqueras i Vies, Mr. Josep Rull i Andreu, Mr. Jordi Sánchez i Picanyol and Mr. Jordi Turull i Negre," Batet said.

Junqueras, the former regional vice president of Catalonia, who is facing hefty charges of rebellion and sedition, was in the general elections of Apr. 28 elected to represent the party he leads, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), while Rull, Sánchez and Turull, were voted into the Madrid-based national parliament as MPs for Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia, JxCat).

On Tuesday, all four were briefly released from preventative prison in Madrid to take their seats in Parliament in what turned out to be a controversial session peppered with protests from mainstream parties opposed to the decision to include the detainees.

JxCat, the party of self-exiled former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont, also welcomed a new senator, Raül Romeva.

As well as handling the suspension of the Catalan lawmakers, the committee had to analyze what effects removing four MPs from the 350-seat chamber would have on the absolute majority threshold.

Of the nine members of the speaker's committee charged with making a decision on the four Catalan separatist MPs, only two members of the left-wing Unidas Podemos (United We Can, in English) asked for more time.

"We made our disagreement clear, accepting the decision the committee took on a majority basis," Irene Montero, the party's parliamentary spokesperson, told the press.

The conservative Popular Party and Ciudadanos (Citizens, in English) welcomed the decision but lamented the fact the lawmakers had been allowed to take their oaths in the first place.

Ana Pastor, a former speaker who is now a member of the committee for the PP, said 48 hours had been wasted.

JxCat said it would petition for the decision to be re-evaluated.

The lawmakers in question are among the 12 Catalan separatists leaders currently on trial for charges ranging from rebellion and sedition to misuse of public funds related to their alleged activities promoting and facilitating an illegal independence referendum in Catalonia and unilaterally declaring independence back in October 2017.

The Catalan crisis, which had been simmering for years, exploded in 2017 with the events that led up to the Oct. 1 referendum on the prosperous region's secession from the rest of the country, which was deemed unconstitutional by the judiciary.

As a consequence of the disputed vote and the regional government's subsequent unilateral declaration of independence, Madrid triggered a constitutional article that stripped the devolved region from its autonomy, deposed then-Catalan President Puigdemont and called new regional elections.EFE-EPA </s> Early on January 30, Roger Torrent, speaker of the Catalan parliament that was returned at the December 21 elections, suspended that day’s session. It had been set down to elect outgoing president Carles Puigdemont as head of the new Catalan government.

The decision of Torrent, a leading member of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), came after the Spanish Constitutional Court had ruled two days earlier that the investiture of Puigdemont, in exile in Brussels, could not take place

Moreover, as someone facing charges of “rebellion” and “sedition” he would have to get the permission of Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena—author of the preventive detention of other Catalan MPs—to actually attend the investiture session.

Finally, if Torrent and the Catalan parliament’s speakership panel went ahead with the investiture session in violation of these conditions they would incur legal sanctions. In the words of the Constitutional Court’s ruling:

Torrent justified his decision to suspend the January 30 session on the grounds that he wanted to ensure a “real investiture” for Puigdemont.

If January 30 had been a normal investiture session, Puigdemont’s election would have been a formality. As leader of the party Together For Catalonia (JxCat) that had won the most seats within the 70-seat pro-independence majority, he had the support of the other pro-independence forces: the centre-left ERC and the anti-capitalist People’s Unity List (CUP). He also faced no rival from the 57-seat unionist minority of Citizens, the People’s Party (PP) and the Party of Socialists of Catalonia (PSC).

Even in the extraordinary situation of detention and exile for eight Catalan MPs and the Spanish government’s October 27 sacking of the Catalan government under article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, Puigdemont was still sure of a 68-vote majority in the 135-seat chamber. Two of the jailed MPs—detained outgoing vice-president Oriol Junqueras (ERC) and former Catalan National Assembly (ANC) leader Jordi Sànchez (JxCat)—would still able to votewhile four others had already declined their accreditation as MPs and had been replaced by the next candidates on the JxCat and ERC tickets.

Only one issue remained unresolved: would Puigdemont be able to deliver his investiture address by video link from his Brussels exile or have it delivered for him by another MP? Or would he try to get back into the Catalan parliament by stealth?

On January 15, the legal counsel of the Catalan parliament delivered a majority opinion against investiture, but the final word lay with the speakership panel, on which JxCat and ERC have a four-three majority. If the panel had been free to rule that Puigdemont could be invested, then he would be, even though the unionist parties said they would immediately appeal such a decision to the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The prospect of Puigdemont—symbol of Catalonia’s independence struggle—returning as head of government panicked all wings of the Spanish establishment, beginning with the PP administration of prime minister Mariano Rajoy but including the opposition Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the new-right Citizens.

If the Catalan parliament backed Puigdemont as president how was he to be removed? On what grounds could Spanish King Felipe, embodiment of Spanish state rejection of the “illegality” of the Catalans’ cause, formally refuse recognition of their parliament’s decision? Could the ongoing support of the European institutions for Spain’s handling of its Catalan headache be guaranteed in such a situation?

The more the Rajoy government looked at the issue, the clearer it became that it had no choice: it had to mobilise the powers of the state to block the investiture of the man it was deriding as a “political zombie” even as it obsessed over how to exorcise him. Former PSOE leader and minister Alfredo Rubalcaba expressed this position in a January 26 interview on radio Onda Zero: “Puigdemont cannot be president and what we are discussing now is how to stop that at the lowest cost.”

To prevent the “zombie” returning by stealth, interior minister Jose Ignacio Zoido had the Civil Guard and Spanish National Police set up road blocks, check car boots, keep minor airports under surveillance and scour the sewers under the Catalan parliament. Civil Guard teams even entered French territory without permission to conduct searches.

On January 25, Spanish deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, in charge of operations in Catalonia, announced that she was reversing the Rajoy government’s usual approach of waiting for the Catalan parliament to act before appealing decisions. It would instead seek the endorsement of Spain’s highest legal consultative body, the Council of State, for its support for a preventive injunction against Puigdemont’s investiture from the Constitutional Court, on the grounds that he was an “outlaw” lacking “liberty of movement”.

Yet, much to the horror of Rajoy and company, the Council of State recommended that they not go ahead with the injunction because it had no solid legal basis. If upheld by the Constitutional Court, that body would be taking upon itself the right to decide which elected candidates a parliament could and couldn’t appoint to positions of officethey had been elected and despite no objection having being made against them as candidates—a clear case of violating democratic rights and even perverting the course of justice.

However, the Rajoy government ignored this advice and ploughed ahead with its appeal, with Saenz de Santamaria being reported as ringing up various Constitutional Court members to stress the vital importance of their decision.

According to media reports, the twelve-member court was split seven-five on whether to admit the appeal. To avoid further increasing the Rajoy government’s discomfort with a split ruling the court decided to postpone a decision for ten days—“to decide upon the admissibility of the appeal”—while at the same time spelling out the conditions on which Puigdemont’s investiture could theoretically still go ahead.

The Constitutional Court thus gave the Rajoy government what it wanted while dodging a decision on its legal application: Puigdemont could attend the investiture and end up in jail or stay in Belgium and make any investiture illegal. On January 30, the court rejected a JxCat appeal against its ruling while one of the PP’s most provocative spokespeople, Raphael Hernando, reminded speaker Torrent that “he has two children so knows what he has to deal with.”

The court’s decision, already criticised by numerous Spanish jurists (see here for comment by Barcelona law professor Ferran Requejo), will doubtless be appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, where its violation of the separation of powers and the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament will be laid bare. Not that Rajoy and Saenz de Santamaria care: their game is to force the pro-independence bloc to abandon Puigdemont and cop the humiliation of having Madrid determine who can and can’t be a candidate for president of Catalonia, irrespective of the vote of the Catalan people.

To close any remaining loopholes, on February 1 Spanish attorney-general Rafael Català announced that the Rajoy government would make use of legislation preventing anyone simplyfor “rebellion” from standing for public office.

At the same time, all the voices of Spanish centralism are competing to see who can produce the most “trenchant” characterisation of the man who won most support within the Catalan independence bloc on December 21. Some examples:

Even Elisenda Alemany, spokesperson of the pro-sovereignty Catalonia Together-Podemos group in the Catalan parliament, supports Puigdemont stepping aside (February 6) if this is the price of recovering Catalan self-rule:

Torrent’s decision to suspend the investiture, taken without consultation of the other pro-independence parties and protested by them, shows that Madrid’s approach of permanently intensifying intimidation is starting to have some success.

It has increased tensions between JxCat and an ERC convinced that the most important priority is to recover Catalan self-government, even at the cost of dropping Puigdemont, as ERC MP in the Spanish parliament Joan Tardà suggested in a January 28interview.

On the evening of January 30, Puigdemont issued a video statement in which he said that Torrent’s decision “had to be respected”, but that “democracy cannot be adjourned or suspended”. For their part, the unionist parties and Catalonia Together-Podemos supported the speaker’s decision.

On the day, a large demonstration outside the Catalan parliament, called by the mass pro-independence organisations ANC and Òmnium Cultural and supported by the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), demanded that the investiture go ahead. At one point, a group of demonstrators, led by some CDRs, broke through police lines in an attempt to get into the parliament building. Inside, the four CUP MPs occupied their places in protest against the suspension of the session.

On January 31, at a public meeting in Louvain, a text message from Puigdemont on the phone of exiled health minister Toni Comín (ERC) was surreptitiously photographed over his shoulder by Spanish channel Tele 5. It read in part:

Puigdemont later tweeted in response to the revelation of this text:

On the same day, the JxCat parliamentary caucus reaffirmed its support for Puigdemont’s candidacy, as did the CUP and ERC. Negotiations, which at the time of writing (February 7) are ongoing, recommenced in search of a formula that would assert the legitimacy of Puigdemont as president while allowing an effective government to form.

The events of January 30 provoked a flurry of reflection and position-taking by all parts of the independence movement.

The day afterwards, the ANC national secretariat called for the unity of the pro-independence majority in support of investing an agreed candidate, affirmed that the ANC would only mobilise outside the Catalan parliament in support of a real investiture, and committed to “returning to the streets if we see that the [Spanish] state or its courts paralyses the investiture.”

Catalan language and culture association Òmnium Cultural called on the pro-independence parties:

Left currents affiliated to the CUP, such as Poble Lliure (“Free People”) and left pro-independence youth organisation Arran, each in their own way saw the suspension of the investiture as marking a watershed in the evolution of the independence movement and its component parts (see live blog for their full statements).

The basic problem weighing on the independence movement is the need to find an agreed strategy for disobedience against a Spanish state that is moving every piece at its disposal—the courts, the media, the monarchy and its loyal backers in the European Commission—to demoralise and tame the Catalan process. This is all the more so because the Spanish government is moving to invalidate the vote of MPs facing charges, killing off the pro-independence majority while simultaneously trying to frighten it with the prospect of another election.

One thing seems certain as the negotiations between the pro-independence parties continue: only persistent, patient and organised resistance by the whole of the pro-independence bloc—determined to assert the sovereignty of the Catalan parliament within the institution itself and in the streets—will ensure that the result of the December 21 election stands. </s> Jordi Sanchez, a separatist civic leader in jail over his alleged role in Catalonia’s secession drive, has dropped his bid to lead the region, the Catalan parliamentary speaker said Wednesday.

“Faced with the repeated violation of his fundamental rights… the lawmaker Jordi Sanchez sent me a letter announcing he was renouncing his candidacy,” Roger Torrent said in a televised statement.

This could ease a months-long political blockage in Catalonia, as it means separatist parties will designate a new candidate for the presidency of the region which has been under direct rule from Madrid since October 27 when lawmakers declared independence.

While separatist parties won subsequent regional elections in December, retaining their absolute majority in parliament, they have still not been able to form a government as their two candidates for the presidency proved problematic.

Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont, who was sacked by Madrid after the independence declaration and left for Belgium where he lives in self-exile, was their first candidate to lead the region again. But he eventually dropped his bid.

Puigdemont instead proposed Sanchez, the former head of the influential pro-independence ANC civil society group.

But this too proved problematic as Supreme Court judges refused to release him for a crucial parliamentary session that would officially appoint him president.

In his statement, Torrent said he would start a new round of talks with parties in Catalonia to find a new candidate.

One name that has been raised is Jordi Turull, the former Catalan government spokesman who is also under investigation over the secession drive, but is free. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption Jordi Sanchez was jailed on sedition charges after October's independence referendum

Jailed Catalan activist Jordi Sanchez has dropped his bid to lead the region's government, paving the way for separatist parties to offer a new name.

The move comes after Spain's Supreme Court rejected his request to be freed to attend an investiture ceremony.

Mr Sanchez, 53, is being held on sedition charges following October's independence referendum, which was ruled illegal by the Spanish courts.

Separatist parties won a slim majority in regional elections in December.

The central government called that vote when it sacked the regional administration and imposed direct rule after the Catalan leaders at the time declared independence.

Mr Sanchez, the former leader of the pro-independence movement Catalan National Assembly, was nominated by separatist parties after the former regional president, Carles Puigdemont, abandoned his attempts to be reappointed.

Announcing Mr Sanchez's decision, Catalan parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent said he faced "repeated violation of his fundamental rights".

Mr Torrent said he would start talks to find a new candidate to lead the government.

One possible name is former Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull, who is also under investigation over his role in the independence movement.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Jordi Turull could be presented as the next candidate for Catalonia's government

Twenty-eight Catalan politicians are being investigated by a Supreme Court judge for their role in the banned referendum and subsequent declaration of independence.

Mr Sanchez and three others remain in jail: former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras, ex-Interior Minister Joaquim Forn and grassroots separatist leader Jordi Cuixart.

Meanwhile, Mr Puigdemont remains in Belgium, fearing arrest if he returns.

This is Spain's biggest political crisis since democracy was restored to the country in 1975. </s> Barcelona: Catalonia's parliament is to hold a debate and vote on Thursday on a new candidate for regional president, Jordi Turull, who risks being disqualified from holding office over his role in the region's separatist drive.

"I will propose to the chamber that Jordi Turull be candidate for president," Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent told reporters late on Wednesday, just hours after Turull was summoned to appear in court on Thursday.

Turull, a former Catalan government spokesman, is under investigation over Catalonia's secession drive but remains free under bail.

He was third on ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's "Together for Catalonia" list in December elections which saw separatist parties retain their absolute majority.

A Supreme Court judge has summoned Turull and other Catalan separatist leaders under probe on Thursday to tell them exactly what they are charged with.

According to a court document seen on Wednesday by AFP, the judge will also decide whether or not to remand Turull and the others in custody.

Puigdemont, who was sacked by Madrid after Catalan lawmakers declared independence last October. He left for Belgium, where he now lives in self-exile, and was the separatist party's first candidate to lead the region again.

But he faces arrest if he returns to Spain, and he eventually dropped his bid after Spain's Constitutional Court ruled he could not be appointed remotely.

The separatist party's second choice, Jordi Sanchez, a separatist civic leader in jail over his alleged role in Catalonia's secession drive, has also dropped his bid to lead the region, Torrent said earlier on Wednesday. </s> Catalan's former leader, Carles Puigdemont, has been charged with rebellion for his attempt to declare independence from Spain.

Thirteen separatist politicians from the region have also been charged with the same and could face up to 30 years in prison under Spanish laws.

Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena issued the indictment on Friday, wrapping up a four-month long investigation into the events last autumn.

Catalan could face another regional election in two months after the separatist majority in its parliament failed to elect a president.

Puigdemont is currently living in self-imposed exile in Belgium and says the Spanish government has violated his rights to political freedom.

He faces arrest if he re-enters Spain.

Also charged with rebellion are Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, former Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell, separatist activists Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart and ERC party leader Marta Rovira, who on Friday announced that she was fleeing Spain.
The Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, proposes Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol as a candidate for President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, but he has been preventively jailed since 16 October 2017, accused of sedition. This happens after Carles Puigdemont resigns as a possible candidate, who, if elected, would have been a symbolic president with a symbolic government in Brussels. The candidacy of Sànchez also reportedly lacks one seat for a majority.