Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell has been released from prison after she posted bail. She and five other lawmakers face criminal charges that could amount to sentences of up to 30 years.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/J. C. Rojas
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Carme Forcadell, the speaker of Catalonia's sacked parliament, left a prison near Madrid on Friday a few hours after her €150,000 ($175,000) bail was posted — ending her brief detention over the region's bid for independence from Spain.
Five other members of Catalonia's parliament were granted bail Thursday after testifying before Spain's Supreme Court on charges of rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of public funds.
Following Thursday's hearing, Supreme Court magistrate Pablo Llarena ordered that Forcadell be held in custody until she had paid bail and ordered her passport be confiscated. Four other lawmakers were to be held until making bail payments of €25,000 — it was unclear whether they had been freed as well. A sixth parliamentarian was freed without bail.
Prosecutors had asked Llarena to jail Forcadell and three other lawmakers without bail. However, in his ruling, the judge wrote: "All the accused ... have expressed that either they renounce future political activity or, those that remain active, will do it renouncing any actions outside the constitutional framework."
Following Catalonia's independence referendum on October 1, which saw voters overwhelmingly support secession from Spain, the Catalan parliament passed a declaration on October 27 proclaiming a new Catalan republic. The vote, however, suffered from turnout of 43 percent and had been declared "illegal" by the Spanish Constitutional Court before any votes were cast.
Following the poll, the Spanish government in Madrid dismissed Catalonia's parliamentary cabinet and seized control of the assembly. New elections are scheduled for December 21.
According to lawyers familiar with the case, Forcadell sought to avoid custody by telling officials during earlier questioning that the independence vote was merely "declarative and symbolic." However, at trial she will no doubt be reminded of her vocal rebukes against the Spanish government over its efforts to undermine Catalonia's referendum vote, having described Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's actions as a "coup" and an "attack against democracy."
Catalonia's independence movement — a brief history
The desire of many Catalans to gain independence from Spain has a long history. The region has experienced varying levels of autonomy and repression over the centuries.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Rich ancient heritage
Catalonia has been settled by the Phoenicians, the Etruscans and the Greeks, who were mainly in the coastal areas of Rosas and Empuries (above). Then came the Romans, who built more settlements and infrastructure. Catalonia remained a part of the Roman Empire until it was conquered by the Visigoths in the fifth century.
Image: Caos30
Counties and independence
Catalonia was conquered by Arabs in 711 AD. The Frankish king Charlemagne stopped their advance at Tours on the Loire River and, by 759, the north of Catalonia was once again Christian. In 1137, the counties that made up Catalonia entered an alliance with the Crown of Aragon.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archiv
Autonomy and the war of succession
In the 13th century, the institutions of Catalan self-administration were created under the banner of the Generalitat de Catalunya. After the unification of the Crown of Aragon with that of Castile in 1476, Aragon was largely able to keep its autonomic institutions. However, the Catalan revolt — from 1640 to 1659 — saw parts of Catalonia ceded to present-day France.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Remembrance of defeat
After the conquest of Barcelona on September 11, 1714, by the Bourbon King Phillip V, Catalan instuitutions were dissolved and self-administration came to an end. Every year, on September 11, Catalans commemorate the end of their right to autonomy.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/L. Gene
Federal ideas in wider republic
After the abdication of King Amadeo I of Spain, the first Spanish Republic was declared in February 1873. It lasted barely a year. The supporters of the Republic were split – one group supporting the idea of a centralized republic, the others wanting a federal system. Pictured here is Francisco Pi i Maragall, a supporter of federalism and one of five presidents of the short-lived republic.
Image: picture-alliance/Prisma Archivo
Failed attempt
Catalonia sought to establish a new state within the Spanish republic, but this only served to exacerbate the differences between republicans, ultimately dividing and weakening them. In 1874, the monarchy and the House of Bourbon (led by King Alfonso XII, pictured here) took the helm.
Image: picture-alliance/Quagga Illustrations
Catalan Republic
Between 1923 — with the support of the monarchy, the army and the church — General Primo de Rivera declared a dictatorship. Catalonia became a center of opposition and resistance. After the end of the dictatorship, the politician Francesc Macia (pictured here) successfully pressed for important rights of autonomy for Catalonia.
The end of freedom
In the Second Spanish Republic, Catalan lawmakers worked on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. This was approved by the Spanish parliament in 1932. Francesc Macia was elected president of the Generalitat of Catalonia by the Catalan parliament. However, the victory of Franco at the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) put an end to all that.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Loss of liberties
The Franco regime ruled with an iron rod. Political parties were banned and the Catalan language and culture were surpressed.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo
New autonomy by statute
After the first parliamentary elections that followed the end of the Franco dictatorship, the Generalitat of Catalonia was provisionally restored. Under the democratic Spanish constitution of 1978, Catalonia was given a new Statute of Autonomy just a year later.
The new Statute of Autonomy recognized the autonomy of Catalonia and the importance of the Catalan language. In comparison to the 1932 statute, it was enhanced in the fields of culture and education but curtailed when it came to the realm of justice. Pictured here is Jordi Pujol, the long-time head of the government of Catalonia after the dictatorship.
Image: Jose Gayarre
Stronger self-awareness
A desire for independence has grown stronger in recent years. In 2006, Catalonia was given a new statute that broadened the Catalan government's powers. However, it lost these after a complaint by the conservative Popular Party to the Constitutional Court of Spain.
Image: Reuters/A.Gea
First referendum
A referendum on independence was already envisaged for November 9, 2014. The first question was "Do you want Catalonia to become a state?" In the case of an affirmative answer, the second question was posed: "Do you want this state to be independent?" However, the Constitutional Court suspended the vote.
Image: Reuters/G. Nacarino
Clash of the titans
Since January 2016, Carles Puigdemont has been president of the Catalan government. He proceeded with the separatist course of his predecessor Artur Mas and called the new referendum for October 1, 2017. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dismissed this as unconstitutional.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Lago
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Two courts, many cases
Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday also decided to take over two further cases against Forcadell and the five other lawmakers from a Catalan court, implying that Supreme Court magistrates are seeking to centralize all criminal proceedings related to the independence vote.
The court, however, has not signaled any intention to also take over the cases against eight other Catalan lawmakers who remain in detention pending a ruling from the High Court. The High Court on Thursday rejected a request from the ministers' lawyers for their release. The detained ministers face similar provisional charges to those leveled at Forcadell and the other five ministers.
Puigdemont decries Spanish 'coup d'etat'
Meanwhile, former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his ministers remain in Brussels in self-imposed exile. All five have been ordered to appear before a High Court judge in Madrid next week, with the Spanish government issuing an arrest warrant for their extradition. Puigdemont has ignored the summons, saying that he wants a guarantee that he will be given a fair trial.
In a letter printed in a Catalan newspaper Thursday, Puigdemont and the four other exiled officials said that "it's time to drive away from (Catalan) institutions those who want to own them with a coup d'etat," referring to the unprecedented measures taken by Madrid to seize control of the Catalan assembly.
