They condemned the Catalan separatists | The tr …

From Madrid

he The Supreme Court of Spain sued the independence leaders who had organized the illegal referendum in Catalonia in october 2017. Spanish justice
condemned 13 years in prison for the former president of the Catalan Generalitat, Oriol Junqueras, for the charge of sedition and embezzlement, and 11 and a half years of sedition, to the former president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Carmen Forcadell.

Former government advisors during this period, Jordi Turull, Raúl Romeva and Dolors Bassa sentenced to 12 years for sedition and embezzlement in Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn 10 years and a half by sedition. The leaders of the sovereign organizations, Catalan National Assembly and Cultural Ominum, Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart, were sentenced to 9 years for the crime of sedition. Three other former councilors were excluded from public office for 20 months.

One of the first reactions to this sentence was that of Oriol Junqueras, who wrote on his Twitter account: "There is no choice but to build a new state for flee the one who persecutes the Democrats, forbids voting and protest and imprisonment for political ideas. "

For its part, the president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Quim TorraHe said that "the government and I reject these sentences, for unfair and undemocratic, for our participation in a political trial and for our cause against independence". In addition, announced that it would hold an urgent meeting with the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and the acting Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to deal with the "crisis".

After a few minutes of noon local time, the president of the Spanish government in office, Pedro Sánchez, gave a press conference during which he announced the "absolute respect", the "respect" and the full respect of the decision of the Supreme Court on the Catalan rulers, suggesting that there will be no room for a pardon or an amnesty. On the other hand, he claimed that the process of independence of Catalonia had failed and called for a new stage of "concord".

Other political leaders also spoke. The president of the Popular Party, Pablo Casado, supported the sentence by saying that "whoever pays it"and invited the Socialist President to confirm that he would not forgive the accused.

United Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias called for reconciliation and asked the different political forces to open dialogue to explore solutions to the conflict..

For its part, Gabriel Rufián, spokesman of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in Congress, the force of sovereignty led by Junqueras, He said that "Spanish democracy is dead"and that this conviction was the most important judicial aggression against Catalonia since 1940, when the Franco regime had shot down the former president of the Generalitat, Lluis Companys.

While In the streets of the main cities of Catalonia such as Barcelona and Girona, several demonstrations took place to protest against this conviction. and ask for the freedom of Catalan "political prisoners".