Spain Sentences Catalan Separatist Leader to 13 Years – The New York Times, The New York Times

MADRID – The Spanish Supreme Court on Monday sentenced former leaders of the Catalan independence movement to lengthy prison terms after finding them guilty of sedition for their botched attemptto break away from Spain in 2017.

The former deputy leader of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, received the toughest sentence: 13 years in prison. Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of Catalonia,has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium, after fleeing to avoidprosecution in Spain.

The court verdicts followed a landmark trial in which 12 leaders of the Catalan independence movement stood accused of crimes ranging from rebellion and sedition to misuse of public funds.

The court sentenced nine of the former leaders to prison for sedition, as well as for misusing public funds. The remaining three were sentenced for the lesser crime of disobedience during the events two years ago, which culminated in an unconstitutionalreferendumfollowed by a declaration of independencein October 2017.

The ruling came amid another buildup of tensions in Catalonia, and protesters took to the streets of Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia as soon as the verdict was made public. The demonstrators cut off the main Diagonal Avenue that crosses Barcelona, ​​while some gathered outside the prison where Mr. Junqueras and others are being held.

In recent days, the Spanish authorities have deployed anti-riot police officers to prepare for any major street protests. Quim Torra, the separatist leader of the regional Catalan government, had called on citizens to demonstrate.

The verdict also came before a repeat national election on Nov. 10. It was called after Pedro Sánchez, the caretaker Socialist prime minister, failed to get sufficient support from smaller parties in Parliament to form a government. It will be Spain’s fourth election in four years, highlighting the country’s political polarization and fragmentation.

The decision on Monday will have a direct impact on next month’s national election because Mr. Junqueras and five other condemned politicians had planned to run.

The verdicts were handed down just before some of the defendants completed two years in jail, after being denied bail.

While the seven judges of the Supreme Court found the Catalan leaders guilty of secession, they did not sentence them for rebellion, a crime that could have resulted in prison sentences as long as 25 years.

By discarding the charge of rebellion, the Supreme Court could now help Spain’s judiciary reactivate its efforts to extradite Puigdemont and a few other Catalan politicians who fled in late 2017, after they were ousted from office by the Spanish government, which used emergency constitutional powers to impose a period ofdirect rule over Catalonia.

Over the past two years, Mr. Puigdemont has successfully fought against extradition attempts from Belgiumand Germany, where local judges rejected the Spanish claim that he had led a rebellion.

Mr. Sánchez was expected to make a televised address to the nation later on Monday. But center-right Spanish politicians welcomed the ruling as soon, and Pablo Casado, the leader of the main opposition Popular Party, called on Mr. Sánchez to promise not use his executive right to grant an early pardon to the condemned Catalan politicians.

“Whoever does it, pays it,” Casado said.

In a televised news conference, Laura Borras, a separatist lawmaker, called the ruling “profoundly anti-democratic” and a violation not only of the rights of elected politicians, but also of the more than two 2 million people who voted for separatist parties in Catalonia in recent years.

“This is a ruling that creates irreparable damage,” Borras said.

On Twitter, Mr. Junqueras said, “We will return stronger, more convinced and firmer than ever.”

The former Catalan leaders could still appeal their case before Spain’s Constitutional Court, if they could demonstrate that their fundamental rights had been violated, as well as to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Some former Catalan leaders have been awaiting a separate European ruling on whether they should be granted immunity as elected members of the European Parliament, after winning their seats in European elections last May.

Among those elected to the European Parliament were Mr. Puigdemont and Mr. Puigdemont Junqueras, who is the leader of the Esquerra Republicana party that is now the largest Catalan force within the Spanish Parliament.