Spain braces for trial unlike any other as 12 separatist Catalan leaders face charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds
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Spain is bracing for a trial unlike any other it has seen in its four decades of democracy.
Twelve separatist Catalan leaders are set to appear in Spain’s Supreme Court in Madrid on Tuesday, where they face charges including rebellion and misuse of public funds.
All eyes are on the trial, which will be broadcasted live on television.
Separatists have called out the court’s credibility, arguing it acts as the puppet of the Spanish government and that any ruling will most likely be set by the political agenda.
Tensions between Madrid and Barcelona have built up in recent years. Catalonia, one of the wealthiest regions in Spain, called for independence because it deemed it received an unfair redistribution of taxes from the central government.
The region defied a judicial ban by carrying out a referendum in October 2017 and unilaterally declaring independence. In retaliation, Madrid said the result of the vote was null and void.
On the day of the referendum, the international community was shocked by the violence the Spanish national police, sent by the government to monitor the vote, used on people casting their ballot.
Madrid later dissolved the Catalan government and imposed direct rule on the region, which lasted seven months.
Some of the separatist leaders were later arrested and others like former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont fled Spain.
Spanish authorities indicted 20 Catalan secessionists in 2017 for their role in the independence bid but several of them, including the former leader Carles Puigdemont, remain in self-imposed exile. They have therefore avoided extradition attempts to force them to go to trial.
But 12 defendants appeared before the court and faced seven judges on Tuesday. They could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for misuse of public funds and sedition.
The most prominent of the accused is Oriol Junqueras, the former deputy leader of Catalonia and head of Esquerra Republicana.
