Catalan separatists transferred to Madrid as key trial nears
Posted February 1, 2019 1:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SANT JOAN DE VILATORRADA, Spain — Authorities are transferring nine politicians and activists from prisons in Catalonia to the country’s capital, Madrid, ahead of a high-stakes trial for their role in an attempt to break Spain’s territorial unity.
There is no date set for the first hearing, but Judge Manuel Marchena ordered the separatists be moved closer to the Supreme Court located in Madrid by Feb. 2. Early on Friday, convoys of Catalonia’s regional police were ferrying the defendants — seven men and two women — from three different prisons to the Brians 2 penitentiary, where Spain’s Civil Guard will then transfer them to Madrid.
Three more defendants in the case were released on bail.
The separatists face up to 25 years in prison for pushing ahead with a banned referendum on Catalonia’s secession from Spain on Oct. 1 2017.
The Associated Press
