The Speaker of Catalonia’s sacked Parliament appeared before Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday in the latest legal case brought against separatist leaders for their role in the region’s divisive independence bid.
A judge may decide to detain Carme Forcadell and five former lawmakers on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds after Catalan lawmakers voted last month to split from Spain.
They are suspected of having followed a “concerted strategy to declare independence,” before the official declaration of the Catalan Parliament on October 27. That declaration was annulled on Wednesday by Spain’s Constitutional Court.
The Catalan crisis has prompted hundreds of businesses to re-register outside the wealthy northeastern region and caused disquiet in a EU still dealing with Brexit.