Catalan Referendum

Catalan separatists have dismissed the high-profile trial which begins Tuesday at Spain's Supreme Court as a "farce" whose outcome is already pre-determined.

Not so, says the government, which has published a thick file to show Spain's justice system is just as fair as its European counterparts, citing rankings by the European Commission, the European Court of Human Rights and Transparency International.

Supreme Court President Carlos Lesmes points out that if the justice system really was not independent, the king's brother-in-law would not be in jail for corruption, nor would a court ruling have sparked a no-confidence motion that brought down the conservative government in June.

"I think this will be the most important trial we've had in democracy," he told reporters before the start of the trial.

"It's a challenge because there's been a big smear campaign of Spain's judiciary."

- State on trial? -

Spain has had a long-standing public perception that its judiciary is biased.

In the EU's 2018 "Justice Scoreboard", Spain came sixth to last among 28 member states for public perception of the independence of judges and courts, behind Poland and Hungary.

Despite repeated denials, the conservative government in power at the time of Catalonia's attempt to break from Spain in October 2017 and the Socialists that took power in June have each been accused of exerting pressure on judges.

"It is the state which will end up in the dock," one of the main defendants on trial, former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, predicted from pre-trial detention.

Junqueras and 11 others are on trial for their role in the attempt to break from Spain.

Separatists call them "political prisoners" who are suffering oppression of the kind experienced in Spain during Francisco Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship.

- 'Unacceptable interference' -

In a ruling, Spain's Supreme Court said the group were not on trial for their ideas.

The majority of the defendants were "political leaders who were members of the government of an autonomous region and therefore the highest representatives of the (Spanish) state in Catalonia", it said.

The government has also had to defend itself from accusations that it put pressure on judges during the criminal investigation phase.

Public prosecutors accuse nine of the 12 of rebellion, which implies the use of violence — a key charge which has divided Spanish legal experts.

But the state attorney decided in November to only accuse them of the lesser crime of sedition.

This has led conservative opposition parties, which take a hard line against Catalan separatism, to accuse the government of "unacceptable interference" in the case.

They suspect the move was part of a bid by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's minority government to win the much-needed support in parliament of Catalan separatist parties for its 2019 budget.

Justice Minister Dolores Delgado, though, said Spain's new state attorney took the decision "without the government imposing anything".

- European courts -

In November, a conservative senator, Ignacio Cosido, also contributed to perception that the judiciary is biased.

On Whats App, he welcomed the promotion of Manuel Marchena — a judge seen as close to the conservatives who will be presiding at the separatists' trial — at the head of the Supreme Court.

Cosido said it would allow the conservatives to "control" the court "behind the scenes."

After the controversy this generated, Marchena gave up the promotion.

Courts in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland have also contributed to doubts about Spain's legal system by refusing to extradite separatists who had escaped after the declaration of independence.

A German court for instance last year refused to send former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont back to Spain on rebellion charges.

A Belgian court meanwhile has agreed to consider a civil lawsuit filed by Puigdemont's lawyers against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, accusing him of impartiality in the case against the Catalan separatist leaders.

Spain has not publicly criticised these decisions.

"Our best communication campaign will be the trial," said Lesmes.

Spain's Supreme Court is expected to issue a verdict Monday in the controversial case of 12 Catalan leaders over their role in a failed 2017 independence bid that sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades.

Tension has been mounting steadily ahead of the ruling with police sending reinforcements to Catalonia where separatists have pledged a mass response of civil disobedience, calling for rallies, roadblocks and a general strike.

The 12 defendants, most of them members of the former Catalan government, are facing long prison terms for their role in the banned October 1 referendum and the short-lived independence declaration that followed it.

Following a high-profile trial which ended in June, judges at Spain's highest court will issue their decision on charges ranging from rebellion and sedition to disobedience and misappropriation of funds.

Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras is the main defendant after his boss, Carles Puigdemont, fled to Belgium to avoid prosecution.

The government is hoping the long-awaited ruling will allow it to turn the page on the crisis in this wealthy northeastern region where support for independence has been gaining momentum over the past decade.

But the separatist movement is hoping for just the opposite: that the anticipated guilty verdicts will unite their divided ranks and bring supporters onto the streets.

- Activists gear up to protest -

Activists from the region's two biggest grassroots pro-independence groups, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, have urged followers to rally on the evening of the verdict.

And in the following days, demonstrators will march from five towns towards Barcelona where they will congregate on Friday, when a general strike has been called.

Activists from the radical CDR (Committees for the Defence of the Republic), have also promised "surprises". On Sunday they briefly occupied the main train station in Barcelona before cutting traffic on a main avenue of the city.

Anti-riot police have been discreetly deployed to Catalonia, but the interior ministry has refused to give numbers.

For many, the situation has brought back memories of tensions in the street in the run-up to the October 1 referendum which was marred by police violence, and ahead of the short-lived independence declaration of October 27.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has made it clear that his government will not tolerate any violence, warning he will not hesitate to renew a suspension of Catalan autonomy as happened two years ago.

The situation is worrying the main Catalan business lobby which said although the verdict would have a "significant emotional impact", it was important the response avoided disrupting "business activity or social cohesion".

- Sedition not rebellion -

The court is widely reported in the media to have chosen to sentence them for sedition and not rebellion, which carries a far heavier sentence.

But after those leaks, the president of the court, Manuel Marchena, warned on Saturday that no decision is final until it has been signed by all seven judges. The signature is expected on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

By definition, rebellion is "rising up in a violent and public manner" to, among other things, "declare independence for part of the (Spanish) territory".

Sedition, however, is "rising up publicly and in turbulent fashion" to "prevent by force or in an illegal way" the law from being applied, or the application of an administrative or legal decision.

The trial comes just weeks before Spain heads to the polls for its fourth election in as many years, putting the Catalan question once more at the centre of the political debate.

Although Sanchez's government is hoping the trial's end might give fresh impetus to dialogue, Junqueras' leftwing ERC party has said it would not be possible without an "amnesty" for "political prisoners and those in exile".

Exiled former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont and his health minister Toni Comin were elected members of the European Parliament in May last year.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled last month that they enjoy immunity from prosecution unless Spain requests this be removed and their fellow ME Ps agree.

On Thursday, Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer Simon Bekaert told AFP the European Arrest Warrant levelled against the men by the Spanish court should now be rejected.

Separately, Puigdemont's camp issued a triumphant statement.

"Today, the Belgian justice system has once again stopped the attempt to extradite president Puigdemont and councillor Comin because they recognise their immunity," it said.

On Twitter, Puigdemont declared: "Spain must act in the same way as Belgium has done and respect the law."

Puigdemont served as president of the Catalan region of Spain between January 2016 and October 2017, during which time he helped organise an independence referendum.

He fled Spain after attempting to declare independence on the strength of the result of the banned vote.

His latest arrest warrant was issued by Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena shortly after his court convicted several other Catalan separatist leaders on similar charges.

Another Catalan pro-independence leader, Oriol Junqueras, was arrested in Spain and has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for sedition over his role in the referendum.

But he was also elected to the European Parliament while still in pre-trial detention in last May's EU-wide vote and appealed to the ECJ, leading to last month's immunity decision.

Puigdemont took the opportunity of the latest Belgian decision to demand Junqueras' release.

Another Catalan politician, former regional culture minister Luis Puig, is also in Belgium and is not an MEP. He is still facing possible extradition in the case.

The next Belgian hearing in the extradition case is on February 3 but the judge is expected to take note of the examining magistrate's decision to recognise Puigdemont and Comin's immunity.

In recent months, renewed protests have erupted in the region, with police clashing with Catalan crowds angered by the lengthy prison sentences imposed by the Madrid court.

Courts in Belgium, Germany and Scotland have so far refused to extradite Puigdemont and other senior Catalan politicians sought by Spain for their role in the 2017 crisis.