Catalan leaders face trial

MADRID: Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered 18 former Catalan leaders to stand trial over their role in last year’s declaration of independence.

The trial is expected to start in early 2019 and will likely revive tensions between Catalonia and Spain’s central government, which have eased since new socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez came to power in June.

The court said nine of the jailed former leaders including Catalonia’s ex-vice president Oriol Junqueras should be tried for rebellion, which carries a prison sentence of up to 25 years. But the region’s former president Carles Puigdemont -- who is also accused of rebellion over his role in the separatist drive and is in self-imposed exile in Belgium -- is not among the group because Spain does not allow trials in absentia.

Catalonia’s parliament declared independence on October 27 last year following a banned secession referendum that was marred by violence as national police sent in from Madrid beat voters with batons and fired rubber bullets. The move triggered Spain’s worst political crisis since the return to democracy following the death of long-time dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.