Madrid - Oriol Junqueras, the former vice president of Spain's
region of Catalonia, and 17 other separatist politicians and
activists are due to go on trial.
After nearly one year of investigations, the Spanish Supreme Court
opened criminal proceedings against the accused on charges of
rebellion, disobedience and misappropriation of public funds, the
court said Thursday.
No date was given for the start of the proceedings. The defendants
are not likely to face a court before early 2019, according to
newspaper El Pais.
Spain placed Catalonia under forced administration after the region
held an independence referendum on October 1 last year and
subsequently moved to secede.
Since then, nine Catalan politicians of
the former separatist government and activists have been in pretrial
detention. Some were nevertheless elected to the regional parliament
in fresh elections last December.
Multiple separatists, including unseated regional president Carles
Puigdemont, fled into self-imposed exile.
After Catalonia's separatists reasserted themselves in the December
2017 regional elections and inaugurated its new government, Madrid
ended its administration of the region.
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who took over from
conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy in June, has so far pursued a
policy of detente and dialogue on the issue of Catalonia.