Spain court orders 4 members of Catalan independence movement to remain in custody News
Spain court orders 4 members of Catalan independence movement to remain in custody

Judge Pablo Llarena of the Supreme Court of Spain [official website, in Spanish] on Monday ordered the continued detention [press release, in Spanish] of four members of the Catalan National Assembly [official website, in Spanish] while allowing six other members freed on bail.

The four men held in detention are former vice-president of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras, former interior contractor Joaquim Forn, and leaders of Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. The judge had considered that there was no risk of escape for these men, instead choosing to keep them confined over a risk of criminal reiteration.

Llarena had stated “their contributions are directly linked to a violent explosion that, to reiterate, leaves no room for correction or satisfaction to those who see yourself reached by it.” The judge would only be willing to allow the four men to be set free “requires to verify that the possibility of new attacks has effectively disappeared.”

All of these arrests occurred after members of the Catalan National Assembly announced the region’s Independence from Spain. However in November Spain’s Constitutional Court declared [JURIST report] the Catalan independence declaration to be unconstitutional.

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