MADRID: The former head of Spain's Catalonia region was barred from public office for two years on Monday for staging an informal referendum on independence, after a trial that has stoked tensions between separatist leaders and the central government.

Artur Mas - who was regional governor in 2014 when pro-independence campaigners held a symbolic referendum in breach of a legal order - was found guilty of contempt of court, Catalonia's Superior Court of Justice said in a ruling.

The case comes as separatist political parties in Catalonia, a wealthy region with its own language and distinct culture, are pushing to hold another vote on breaking away from Spain in September.

Spain's centre-right Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has repeatedly ruled out such a scenario, however, saying any regional vote on secession would be illegal. Spain's Constitutional Court has blocked such moves in the past. </s> MADRID — Spain’s Supreme Court is stripping six prominent Catalan politicians of public office for trying to make the northeastern region of the country independent.

Judge Pablo Llarena also ruled Tuesday that the six secessionists be sent to trial on charges of rebellion, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.

Those charged include former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany, and former regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras.

Llarena left it up to the Catalan regional parliament, where the rebellion defendants now are lawmakers, whether to replace them.

Llarena was tasked with investigating what took place in Catalonia in October, when Puigdemont’s government disobeyed a court ban on holding a secession vote and the regional parliament unilaterally declared independence.

The events triggered Spain’s most severe political crisis in decades. </s> Former Catalan president Artur Mas has been barred from holding public office for two years after defying Spain's constitutional court to hold a symbolic independence referendum.

The Catalan High Court also banned former vice-president Joana Ortega from office for 21 months and former education minister Irene Rigau for 18 months for defying the constitutional court and going ahead with the non-binding referendum in November 2014.

Mas was also fined €36,500 for staging the vote.

He denied deliberately breaking the law, and took full responsibility for instigating the referendum seeking independence for the region.

"There was no intention of committing any crime or of disobeying anyone," said Mas during the trial, AFP reported. "If it was so obvious that it was a crime, how could it be that the Constitutional Court did nothing to enforce its resolution?"

The constitutional court ruled the referendum unconstitutional days before it was held. It was also opposed by the government of Manuel Rajoy in Madrid.

Around 2.3 million people in Catalonia cast a ballot, with 80.7% voting for independence. </s> MADRID — The simmering conflict over Catalan independence roared back to the center of Spanish attention on Tuesday, as 12 people went on trial for their roles in the botched secession attempt of 2017, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez scrambled to keep the issue from toppling his government.

The eagerly anticipated trial before the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid has drawn enormous attention and is being broadcast live on national television, but it could soon be overshadowed by the political crisis unfolding just blocks away, in Parliament.

On Wednesday, Mr. Sánchez’s minority Socialist government faces a crucial parliamentary vote on his national budget. If a majority of lawmakers reject it, including Catalan lawmakers who have so far backed the prime minister, he will almost certainly be forced to call elections.

With Spain’s government hanging in the balance, the Supreme Court is under intense pressure to demonstrate that it can remain impartial and above politics in a case that has ignited passions and recriminations. The Catalan separatist leaders were indicted on charges that include rebellion, after holding an independence referendum and then declaring independence in October 2017 — moves the Spanish courts ruled unconstitutional. </s> This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The former Catalan president Artur Mas has been banned from holding public office for two years after being found guilty of disobeying the Spanish constitutional court by holding a symbolic independence referendum three years ago.



On Monday, the Catalan high court convicted Mas, former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau of defying the constitutional court by pressing ahead with the non-binding vote in November 2014.

Mas was also fined €36,500 (£31,900). Ortega was banned from holding office for 21 months and fined €30,000, while Rigau was banned for 18 months and fined €24,000.

Speaking after the trial, Mas said he would appeal to the supreme court, and was prepared to take the case to the European courts because he had little faith in the Spanish judicial system.

“In the Spanish state, the law is not the same for everybody,” he told a press conference on Monday afternoon at which Ortega and Rigau also appeared. “We have been condemned for defending ideas that are not liked.”

His successor, Carles Puigdemont, contrasted the sentence with the news that Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, plans to stage a second independence referendum. “What a mistake!” the Catalan leader tweeted of the verdict. “How different from stable and healthy democracies.”

Mas, who governed Catalonia from 2010 to 2016, said no one had deliberately sought to defy the Spanish authorities.

“There was no intent to commit any crime or disobey anyone,” he told the trial in February. “Our aim was to rise to the challenge and promote participation by all possible means.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters of Catalonian independence demonstrate in Barcelona in 2015. Photograph: Action Press/Rex Shutterstock

He also asked why the Spanish judiciary had not done more to prevent the vote: “If this was so clearly a crime, why didn’t the constitutional court do anything to stop it?”



The constitutional court ruled the referendum was illegal five days before it was held on 9 November 2014, but Mas and others went ahead with the vote, helped by more than 40,000 volunteers who opened schools and installed polling stations.

More than 80% of participants opted for independence, but only 2.3 million of Catalonia’s 5.4 million eligible voters took part.

The trial was held as relations between Madrid and Barcelona curdled rapidly and seven months before the pro-independence Catalan government plans to hold a binding referendum on splitting from Spain.

The renewed push has again been blocked by Spain’s constitutional court. It has warned Puigdemont and Carme Forcadell, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, that they had a duty to stop any move to ignore or dodge the suspension, or deal with the consequences.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Carme Forcadell tweeted her support of Mas. Photograph: Lluis Gene/AFP/Getty Images

Forcadell, who faces charges of contempt of court and neglect of duty for allowing the parliament to vote on plans to secede from Spain last July, responded to the verdict by tweeting: “All my support to Mas, Ortega and Rigau in the wake of this unjust sentence. Democracy should be exercised, not banned.”

Sergi Sabrià, a spokesman for the leftwing separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, accused Madrid of using the case for political ends. He described the verdict as “disgraceful and anti-democratic” and said the secessionist movement would not be deterred.



“No matter how much they ban politicians for putting out ballot boxes or try to fabricate evidence from the sewers of the state, they won’t be able to stop this process,” he said. “We will make it to the end and we will put out the ballot boxes.”

The separatist movement has acquired huge momentum over recent years, but any vote would probably be very close. A poll at the end of December showed 46.8% of Catalans are against independence, compared with 45.3% in favour.

Campaigners for independence for the wealthy, north-eastern region argue that Catalonia has its own culture, language and political heritage and has long been putting more into the Spanish state than it gets out.

The conservative government of Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has vehemently opposed any bid for sovereignty, pointing out that a unilateral bid for independence would infringe the constitution.

There has been talk in recent weeks that the Spanish government is considering invoking article 155 of the constitution, which would allow it to take drastic steps to prevent September’s referendum by suspending regional autonomy.

Such a move could see Madrid ordering the closure of schools in the region to stop them being used as polling stations and even taking control of the Catalan police. </s> A Barcelona court has barred the former premier of Catalonia, Artur Mas, from elected office for two years for staging a referendum on independence in 2014.

The Catalan high court of justice ruled that Mr Mas, who was regional premier until January 2016, had been the “direct and material mastermind” of the referendum, the staging of which defied a ruling by Spain’s top court. He was also fined €36,500.

Two fellow defendants, Joana Ortega and Irene Rigau, who were members of Mr Mas’s cabinet, were also found guilty of disobedience and barred from public office for 21 and 18 months, respectively. They also received fines.

The sanctions were softer than those requested by the state attorney – who wanted a 10-year ban for Mr Mas – and all three defendants were absolved of the charge of abusing their position.

However, with tensions running particularly high at the moment between Madrid and Barcelona over the Catalan drive for independence, the ruling has drawn an angry response.

“It is inconceivable that in a democracy you can be barred from public positions only because you have listened to the people,” Mr Mas said.

In the 2014 vote, which was not intended as a legally binding referendum, just over 80 per cent of participants voted for independence for the northeastern region. However, less than 40 percent of Catalans turned out because of the referendum’s illegal status.

“We would do everything exactly the same way again,” Mr Mas said, adding that the three defendants will appeal the decision before Spanish and European courts. “We don’t regret a thing. We are democrats and we are proud of having given the people a voice.”

As Catalan premier, Mr Mas was the political face of the independence campaign and separatists portrayed his trial as an attempt by the Spanish state to manipulate the judiciary.

His successor as Catalan premier, Carles Puigdemont, has been planning another referendum for later this year. Backed by a broad secessionist front, he says that if the independence vote wins, Catalonia will start the process of breaking away from Spain. The Spanish government has vowed to take whatever measures it deems necessary to stop that vote. Polls suggest Catalans are evenly split over independence.

Reacting to the sentence, Mr Puigdemont suggested he plans to push ahead with this year’s referendum. “We will continue with our commitment, a commitment that is reinforced by every obstacle that it has to face,” he said.

However, others welcomed the court’s decision. “Today’s sentence shows that the rule of law works and ends up putting everyone in their place,” said Xavier García Albiol, a Spanish politician and member of the People’s Party. “It shows that the rule of law and democracy work.”

In recent days, Convergència, the nationalist party of Puigdemont and Mas, has come under scrutiny. Fèlix Millet, the former director of Barcelona’s Palau music auditorium who is on trial for embezzlement, told a court bribes were paid to the party in exchange for public works contracts. Convergència recently rebranded itself as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECat). </s> Unprecedented and historic — that is how the Supreme Court trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders that ended today is being described.

The proceedings, which began in February, saw them face charges of rebellion, disobedience and misuse of public funds, all related to the independence referendum held on October 1, 2017.

The vote was declared illegal by the Spanish government, which moved to punish those involved immediately.

The high-profile trial — that has heard from more than 300 witnesses and rejected at least 50 — came to an end on Wednesday with the final statements of the defendants.

A verdict is expected in the autumn.

READ MORE: Catalan Separatists' trial: How they got here and what's next? | Euronews Answers

“The nuclear question is whether or not there has been violence that integrates the crime of rebellion,” said the spokesman for the professional association for Spanish judges Judges for Democracy (Juezas y Jueces para la Democracia) Ignacio González Vega.

He believes that “accusations are still based on the fact that (the declaration of independence on October 1) was a planned plot spread out through time with episodes of violence while the defence still argues that the declaration of independence was made without any violence.”

González Vega doesn’t recall any other trial like this one that was broadcast live on television from beginning to end.

“This is a way for citizens to supervise the jurisdictional activity of the Spanish courts and that is enough motivation to forgo an international observer,” noted González Vega.

Transparency was key for a trial that many independentists have been calling a "farce". It became a test for the public image of the Spanish judicial system, which the spokesman defended: “It responds to European standards on justice and preserves rights and guarantees.”

González Vega believes that “political pressure cannot be ignored” but that the experience and professionalism of the judges make them immune to these pressures. </s> The former Catalan president Artur Mas has been banned from holding public office for two years after being found guilty of disobeying the Spanish constitutional court by holding a symbolic independence referendum three years ago.The Catalan high court convicted Mas, former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau of defying the constitutional court by pressing ahead with the non-binding vote in November 2014.Mas was also fined €36,500 (£31,900). Ortega was banned from holding office for 21 months, Rigau for 18 months.(the guardian)…[+] </s> A judge from Spain's Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a national arrest warrant for a politician from Catalonia who had been due to testify on the region's recent declaration of independence but recently fled to Switzerland.

Anna Gabriel, the former regional parliamentary spokesperson for the left-wing pro-independence Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP), was due to face charges of rebellion for her involvement in Catalonia's failed bid for independence last year, but left for Switzerland days ahead of her arraignment.
The leading judge presiding over the investigation of the 2017 Catalan independence referendum and the director of the Operation Anubis Juan Antonio Ramírez Sunyer dies suddenly at the age of 71.