The Catalan president has been charged by Spain’s attorney general after the unofficial referendum on independence.
Artur Mas has been charged with disobedience, perverting the course of justice, misuse of public funds and abuse of power.
The charges all relate to the referendum which went ahead on 9 November despite the country’s constitutional court ruled that it was illegal.
The charge claims Mas “planned, supported and financed” the poll in defiance of the constitutional court.
Catalonia’s vice president and its education minister also face charges.
Spain’s president, Mariano Rajoy, has always insisted that the poll violated the constitution and would never be allowed. He took the matter to the constitutional court for its consideration and then later asked the attorney general to see if any crime had been committed when the poll took place.
Maurici Lucena, Catalan socialist party spokesman, described the move as “incomprehensible because all it does is benefit Mas.” Mas, whose popularity had dropped dramatically in recent months, has increasingly been perceived as a populist political martyr.
The Spanish vice president has insisted that the decision of the attorney general, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, was independent of political pressure.
At the recent G20 conference, Rajoy admitted he had not got his message across to the Catalan people so would visit Barcelona to convince them of the value of Spanish unity.
If the case makes it to court and the three are found culpable, they could be banned from public office for 10 years and face between six and 12 months imprisonment.
Comments
so these 'laws' do exist in Iberia !!!
Ed - you could have knocked me down with a feather reading this. I needed 3 readings before accepting that you meant to write this.
Its not entirely obvious that the EU favours the breaking up into smaller regions. Only the prosperous regions will want this independence ... the basket cases will then end up grouped together but still need endless support.
And so the cycle will start again ... as the prosperous EU countries and regions don't want to carry the perennially weak ones. Like Portugal.
It is not what the EU is for.
And so .... where will the break away urge in Spain travel to next? Obviously the Basques. The Cantabrians and Asturians. But also Rajoy's own Galicians who are starting to shoot and bomb like the Basques were..
So we must all be worried about the missing Portuguese adventurer / runner in the Picos da Europa mountains.
He seems a first rate chap - but did he (literally) run into something he should not have ? The 'freedom fighters' ??