Protesters hold banners reading “Freedom Political Prisoners, We are Republic” as they gather in Sant Jaume square at a demonstration during a partial regional strike in Barcelona, Spain, November 8, 2017. REUTERS/Albert Gea
November 9, 2017
By Jesús Aguado and Angus Berwick
MADRID (Reuters) – The parliamentary speaker who enabled Catalonia’s declaration of independence said on Thursday the document was not legally binding, sources said, in a comment that could undermine the region’s secessionist push.
Carme Forcadell, a vocal critic of the central government’s takeover of the region that the declaration triggered, made the remark in an appearance before Spain’s Supreme Court.
She and five other lawmakers were answering charges of rebellion and sedition for their leading roles in the independence drive.
Court sources told Reuters they told the hearing that the Oct. 27 declaration, which followed a referendum banned by Madrid, was not legally binding.
The concession might also increase their chances of being conditionally released, which would enable them to campaign freely for regional elections on Dec 21.
The Catalan independence push has deeply divided Spain, dragging it into its worst political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago and fuelling anti-Spanish sentiment in Catalonia and nationalist tendencies elsewhere.
But the struggle has also divided Catalonia itself, and cracks have begun appearing within the pro-independence movement.
On Tuesday, deposed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont’s PDeCAT party failed to agree on a united ticket to contest the election with another secessionist party, making it difficult for the pro-independence camp to govern the region after the vote and press ahead with its bid to split from Spain.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the election following the independence declaration, which also prompted him to dissolve the Catalan parliament and fire Puigdemont’s administration.
Forcadell at the time described Rajoy’s actions as a “coup” and an “attack against democracy”.
ALL IN ONE COURT?
The Supreme Court, which handles cases against defendants with parliamentary immunity, will decide whether to remand her and the other five legislators in custody while an investigation into the charges against them continues, or release them under certain conditions.
The same court decided on Thursday to take over two other cases against Forcadell and the lawmakers currently overseen by the Catalan High Court, suggesting judges were looking to centralize all legal proceedings involving the independence vote in one court.
The Spanish High Court is hearing a case against eight former members of the Catalan government and the leaders of the two main pro-independence grassroots groups, who are in custody awaiting trial on sedition charges for their involvement in the referendum.
On Thursday, High Court Judge Carmen Lamela rejected an appeal presented by the lawyers for their release, a court spokeswoman said.
The Supreme Court has legal grounds to also take over the High Court case, although so far it has not made any statements on its intentions.
The Spanish High Court issued an arrest warrant last week on sedition and rebellion charges for Puigdemont, who went into self-imposed exile in Belgium last week, and against four former members of his cabinet who are with him in Brussels.
“Puigdemont has fled, but Puigdemont will come back and answer to Spanish justice. I have no doubt (about this) at all,” Spain’s Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido told Spanish television on Thursday.
Further disappointment for the deposed leader, who appealed for EU intervention over the crisis and had ambitions to garner support in the heartland of the European Union, came in comments from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Speaking from the Spanish city of Salamanca on Thursday at an event also attended by Rajoy, he called on Europe to reject all forms of separatism.
“Nationalisms are a poison that prevent Europe from working together,” he said.
(Additional reporting by Alba Asenjo, Carlos Ruano and Tomas Gonzalez; Writing by John Stonestreet; editing by Angus Berwick)
