Catalan parliament’s speaker and five lawmakers arrived at Spain’s Supreme Court in Madrid to answer charges of rebellion and sedition for their roles in staging a banned referendum on Catalonia’s independence last month.
The court will decide whether to remand the speaker, Carme Forcadell, and the lawmakers while the investigation continues or release them under certain conditions.
Eight former members of the Catalan government and the leaders of the two main pro-independence grassroots groups are already in custody, awaiting trial on sedition charges for their parts in the Oct. 1 vote, ruled illegal by Spanish courts.
Forcadell and the lawmakers were summoned last week to the Supreme Court, which handles the cases of people who enjoy parliamentary immunity, but it gave them another week to prepare their defences.
