OREANDA-NEWS. The Supreme Court of Spain sentenced 12 leaders of the separatists who advocated autonomy of the community of Catalonia in 2017. Reuters agency reported that 9 of them were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 9 to 13 years.

The longest term was received by Oriol Junqueras, the Vice President of Catalonia in 2016–2017, who was sentenced to 13 years for rebellion and misuse of public funds. Carme Forcadell, the former President of the Parliament of Catalonia, received 11 and a half years in prison. Jordi Sanchez, the former President of the Catalan National Assembly, and Jordi Cuixart, the President of the Omnium Cultural association, was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Three accused persons were found guilty only of disobeying the law and did not receive prison sentences.

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who earlier fled to Belgium, condemned the decision of the Spanish court. “100 years of prison in total. A barbarity. <...> It’s time to react like never before. For the future of our children. For the democracy. For Europe. For Catalonia,” he wrote on his Twitter page.

On October 1, 2017, 90.18 % of the Catalans voted for independence in the referendum, 7.83 % voted against it. The turnout was 43.03 % (2.87 million people). Spanish authorities consider the referendum to be illegal.

On November 10 2019, pre-term parliamentary elections will be held in Spain. It will be the fourth election in the country during the period of four years. Before that the elections in Spain took place at the end of April. The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party won, it took 123 places in the lower house of parliament. The center-right People’s Party took the second place.