Spanish Judge Jails 5 Catalan Leaders in a Blow to Secessionist Movement

BARCELONA, Spain — A Spanish Supreme Court judge on Friday ordered five Catalan politicians to be detained without bail, a decision that reignited tensions in the region as the central government struggled to quell the secessionist movement in Catalonia.

Judge Pablo Llarena also issued international arrest warrants for six other Catalan politicians, including Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of Catalonia, who had fled to other countries to avoid prosecution in Spain.

State prosecutors want to sentence Puigdemont and other Catalan politicians to decades in prison for violating Spain’s Constitution during their secession drive, which included an illegal referendum and a declaration of independence last October.

In his ruling, Llarena argued that 25 Catalan leaders should stand trial and questioned whether they had abandoned their illegal push toward independence. He said that their secession plan appeared instead to be “awaiting reactivation.”

On Thursday, separatist lawmakers tried to elect a new regional leader to replace Puigdemont, but the candidate of the main separatist parties, Jordi Turull, failed to gain enough votes from lawmakers in the regional assembly.

On Friday, Turull was one of the five politicians who responded to a court summons, only to find that Llarena had decided to send them to jail, denying them bail.

Turull argued that he was being sent to jail for remaining “loyal” to his political mandate, as an elected separatist politician. He failed to get a majority of votes in the Catalan Parliament because he was not endorsed by the smallest of the three separatist parties that holds a narrow majority of seats in the assembly. The separatist parties have been squabbling over whether to stick to the goal of seceding unilaterally from Spain, in defiance of Spanish courts and the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Adding another twist to Spain’s territorial conflict over Catalonia, another Catalan politician, Marta Rovira, failed to appear in court on Friday and instead fled to Switzerland. She issued a letter explaining why she had chosen “the path of exile,” but Llarena later added her name to his list of international arrest warrants.

The Catalan politicians face an array of charges ranging from misuse of public funds to rebellion, the most serious crime, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years upon conviction. Thirteen of the defendants have been charged with rebellion by Llarena.

Turull was the third candidate proposed by the main separatist parties since December, when they narrowly retained their parliamentary majority in a snap election called by Rajoy.

Last October, after separatist lawmakers declared independence, Rajoy used emergency constitutional powers to oust Puigdemont’s administration and place Catalonia under direct rule from Madrid. Hoping to end the separatist challenge, Rajoy then called the election, which instead left Catalonia in a political deadlock.

Since then, Rajoy has repeatedly called on the separatists to form a new government that recognizes Spanish sovereignty and is not led by one of the politicians indicted by Spain’s judiciary. After the failed attempt to elect Turull, the separatist parties now have two months to form a government or force Catalonia to hold a new election, a possibility Rajoy said Friday that he hoped to avoid.

The case against Catalan separatists is led by Llarena from the Supreme Court, but two other courts, one in Madrid and another in Barcelona, are also investigating officials accused of civil disobedience and other offenses, including organizing the independence referendum held last October, even after it was declared illegal by Madrid.

Prosecutors want the main Catalan politicians to stand trial before the end of the year, but it is unclear whether Spain’s judiciary will be able to force the extradition of those who have fled the country. Llarena is reactivating an arrest warrant he dropped last year against Puigdemont and other former members of his Cabinet, amid concerns that courts in Belgium, where he fled, would instead soften the charges against them.

Earlier this month, Puigdemont agreed to drop his bid for re-election. But he has since continued to defend the separatist cause and has traveled this month to Switzerland and Finland to attend conferences.

After the Supreme Court ruling, protesters gathered in downtown Barcelona on Friday evening, cutting off one of the city’s main avenues. The issue of independence not only has generated a conflict with Madrid but also has split Catalan society.

In December, separatist lawmakers won 47.5 percent of the votes, but that was enough for them to keep their majority of parliamentary seats, under a system of proportional representation that favors their dominance in rural areas.