Pro-independence Catalan politicians seek jail release

People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty ImagesPeople attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images
People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images
A Spanish judge has ordered that four prominent members of the Catalan independence movement should remain in custody, including the deputy of the ousted regional government, who will campaign in a polarised regional election from a jail near Madrid.

Meanwhile, Catalan ex-president Carles Puigdemont and four of his allies heard that they will be judged on whether they can be extradited from Belgium to Spain on 14 December, exactly one week before the election.

The group is refusing to return to Spain to face rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges that can be punished with decades in prison under the country’s criminal laws.

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People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty ImagesPeople attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images
People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images

Puigdemont’s defence lawyer, Paul Bekaert, insisted that the Spanish charges were not punishable in Belgium and thus there were no grounds for extradition.

Whatever decision is made on 14 December, two appeals will be possible and a final ruling could well come only after the 21 December election called by Spain’s central authorities, in which Puigdemont is leading his pro-independence party’s campaign.

Prime minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative Spanish government disbanded Puigdemont’s cabinet when it took control of Catalonia shortly after separatist regional lawmakers passed a declaration of independence in late October.

The early election is an attempt to find a democratic way out of the nation’s worst crisis in nearly four decades. But the vote is shaping up as a plebiscite between those for and against independence, with polls predicting a close race between the two camps.

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People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty ImagesPeople attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images
People attend the program presentation of Catalan pro-independence center-right grouping 'Junts per Catalunya - JUNTSXCAT' (All for Catalonia). Picture: Getty Images

Adding to the uncertainty, a supreme court judge decided to uphold the preventive jailing of ousted Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras, whose left-republican ERC party was part of the former Catalan ruling coalition with Puigdemont’s conservative party and is leading the polls before the new election.

Campaigning officially began at midnight on Monday and in the hours before that moment Catalan pro-independence groups hope to stage protests in front of town halls across the region against the supreme court’s decision on the detained separatists.

Junqueras and other jailed politicians pledged last week not to seek unilateral independence for the wealthy northeastern region, in the hope of being freed.

But judge Pablo Llarena said in his decision that it remains to be seen if Junqueras’ pledge to abide by Spanish law is “truthful and real”.

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ERC spokeswoman Marta Rovira described the jailing as “a covert attempt” by Spain’s central authorities in Madrid to get ERC out of the picture.

“This is a very clear attempt to win these elections without political adversaries,” she said.

The magistrate also upheld custody orders without bail for the former regional interior minister, Joaquim Forn, and the leaders of Assemblea Nacional Catalan and Omnium Cultural, the two Catalan grassroots groups that have been the main drivers of the separatist bid in Catalonia.

A government-run poll published Monday indicated that pro-independence parties would lose their slim majority in the Catalan regional parliament. It gave ERC, Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) and the far-left anti-establishment CUP party 66 or 67 seats out of the parliamentary 135 seats.

The election could be a close race between the left republican ERC party and the opposition Ciutadans (Citizens), with 21 and 22.5 per cent share of the vote respectively.

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