page_title: Joan Josep Nuet
section_title: Catalan independence crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Joan Josep Nuet / Career / Catalan independence crisis
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context_page_description: Joan Josep Nuet i Pujals is a Spanish politician from Catalonia who currently serves as Member of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. He was previously a member of the Senate of Spain and the Parliament of Catalonia.
  A member of the Party of the Communists of Catalonia since 1986, Nuet became its secretary-general in January 2010. He has been secretary-general of the Communists of Catalonia since its formation in November 2014. He was co-ordinator general of the United and Alternative Left from June 2012 to June 2019.
  Nuet was a member of Montcada i Reixac Municipal Council from 1991 to 2003 and served two terms as a deputy mayor. He was an appointed member of the Senate of Spain from December 2006 to February 2011. He was a member of the Congress of Deputies from December 2011 to October 2015 and a member of the Parliament of Catalonia from October 2015 till his resignation in March 2019. He was Third Secretary of the Parliament of Catalonia from October 2015 to October 2017. He was elected to a second term in the Congress of Deputies at the 2019 general election. He is currently awaiting trial on charges of disobedience for his role in the Catalan declaration of independence.
context_section_description: In June 2017 President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont announced that a referendum on Catalan independence would be held on 1 October 2017. The Catalan Parliament passed legislation on 6 September 2017 authorising the referendum which would be binding and based on a simple majority without a minimum threshold. The following day Constitutional Court of Spain suspended the legislation, blocking the referendum. The Spanish government put into effect Operation Anubis in order to disrupt the organisation of the referendum and arrested Catalan government officials. Despite this the referendum went ahead though it was boycotted by unionists and turnout was only 43%. 92% of those who voted supported independence. Around 900 people were injured as the Spanish police used violence to try to prevent voting in the referendum.
  On 27 October 2017 the Catalan Parliament declared independence in a vote boycotted by opposition MPs. Almost immediately the Senate of Spain invoked article 155 of the constitution, dismissing Puigdemont and the Catalan government and imposing direct rule on Catalonia. The following day Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved the Catalan Parliament and called for fresh regional elections on 21 December 2017.
  On 30 October 2017 Spanish Attorney General José Manuel Maza laid charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds at the Supreme Court against Nuet and five other members of the Board of the Parliament of Catalonia (Ramona Barrufet, Lluís Corominas, Carme Forcadell, Lluís Guinó and Anna Simó). The charges carried maximum sentences of 30, 15 and 6 years in prison respectively.
  Nuet and the other members of the board appeared before Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena on 9 November 2017. Nuet was released without any precautionary measures but the other five had to pay bail (€100,000 for Forcadell, €25,000 each for Barrufet, Corominas, Guinó and Simó), surrender their passport and present themselves at a court weekly. The bail bonds were paid by the Catalan National Assembly.
  After a four-month judicial investigation into the referendum and declaration of independence Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena issued a 70-page ruling on 23 March 2018 in which he ordered that 25 of the 28 Catalan politicians and activists under investigation be tried for rebellion, embezzlement or disobedience. Nuet was charged with disobeying an order of the Constitutional Court (article 410 of the criminal code).
  A pre-trial hearing commenced on 18 December 2018 at the Supreme Court at which defence lawyers argued that the court was not competent to hear charges of rebellion or disobedience and that it should be heard at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. On 27 December 2018 the Supreme Court ruled that, although they were competent to hear all the charges, the six defendants charged only with disobedience (Barrufet, Mireia Boya, Corominas, Guinó, Nuet and Simó) would be tried at the High Court of Justice of Catalonia.
caption: Nuet addresses the Òmnium Cultural's Judici a la Democràcia rally on 19 January 2019 at Montjuïc Castle
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