MADRID, July 10 — Spain’s Supreme Court today ordered former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and five other separatists be suspended as regional lawmakers after concluding a probe into their secession bid. In a statement, the court said Judge Pablo Llarena had ordered “the suspension of... Carles Puigdemont and the other five lawmakers accused of the offence of rebellion.”

A total of 25 separatist leaders are under investigation for their involvement in a failed independence declaration on October 27, which prompted Spain’s then government to sack the regional executive and impose direct rule on Catalonia. This was only lifted last month when a new separatist executive took office in Catalonia after snap regional elections in December voted pro-independence parties back into power. Of the 25, 13 are accused of rebellion and risk up to 25 years in prison. Nine are in preventative custody in Spain while four others fled abroad and are wanted by Spanish courts. Those charged include former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who is fighting extradition from Germany, and former regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras. While they could not take part in parliamentary sessions in Barcelona, the six lawmakers kept their posts after being elected in the December polls, delegating their votes to party colleagues. With the suspension, Catalan separatist parties will have to replace them if they want to maintain their absolute majority of 70 of the parliament’s 135 seats. — AFP
The Supreme Court of Spain suspends from public office the deputies to the Parliament of Catalonia prosecuted for rebellion (Romeva, Turull, Rull, Sànchez, Junqueras, Puigdemont). The pre-trial phase is finished.