BREAKING: Catalonia leader to stay in jail until €150,000 bail is paid

The speaker, Carme Forcadell, will be held in custody during an investigation into her role in the “illegal” push for independence in Catalonia.

Ms Forcadell and five regional lawmakers testified on Thursday on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds.

Four other lawmakers would also be released on 25,000-euro bail, while a fifth would be freed on certain conditions without bail, a source told Reuters.

Spain’s prosecutor had previously requested jail for Forcadell and three lawmakers summoned to the Supreme Court and the release of two others on certain conditions.

Madrid responded to last month’s independence declaration by imposing direct rule, sacking regional president Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet, dissolving the regional parliament and calling an election for December 21.

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Court sources told Spanish media that, during questioning, Ms Forcadell and her colleagues accepted direct rule and presented the declaration of independence as “symbolic” rather than legally bindig.

Xavier García Albiol, leader of the governing Popular Party (PP) in Catalonia, welcomed the news.

Writing on Twitter, he said: “That Carme Forcadell publicly acknowledges that the Catalan independence declaration has no real value is good for democrats.”

Carles Puigdemont has been in Belgium since October 30.

Although he doesn’t plan to request asylum in Belgium, he claims he would not receive a fair trial in Spain.

Spain is attempted to extradite him, and a Belgian judge will rule on that on November 17.

Barcelona came to a standstill on Wednesday after independence protesters unleashed chaos on the streets, blocking major roads with burning barricades and human chains to demand the release of jailed secessionist leaders.

Huge banners have appeared across major highways, with one reading “Sorry for the inconvenience. Catalan Republic under construction”, and another with “Not a step back against repression. We are the republic. General strike” written across it.

Eight former members of the Catalan government have been imprisoned while the ex-Catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, and four other ex-ministers try to force the European Union to intervene in the dispute.

The disputed Catalan leader accused Madrid of carrying out a “brutal judicial offensive” against members of his deposed regional government.


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