MADRID: Spain’s Supreme Court ordered on Friday that Catalan separatist leader Oriol Junqueras must remain in custody after over two months in prison while authorities investigate his role in the Spanish region’s independence movement.
In a written ruling, the judges said there was a risk that Junqueras would again commit an offense if he were released as there was no evidence to show he had abandoned “the path followed so far.” He is being held on allegations of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
A Dec. 21 election gave separatists a slim majority in the regional parliament in a blow to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who had hoped it would quash the Catalan independence movement and resolve Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
The court’s decision will probably prevent Junqueras from being sworn in at the opening session of the new Catalan parliament on Jan. 17 and complicates the separatist parties’ search for a leader who is neither jailed nor abroad.
Junqueras’s Esquerra Republicana (Republican Left) party emerged from the election as the second largest separatist group, a few seats behind former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont’s Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party.
Market-friendly unionist party Ciudadanos (Citizens) won the most seats but other unionist parties did not secure enough votes to form a majority.
Puigdemont remains in self-imposed exile in Brussels, though he has said he would return to Catalonia if the Spanish government gave him certain “guarantees,” likely a promise not to arrest him.
After the Supreme Court’s ruling, Puigdemont tweeted: “There is a conflict between Catalonia and Spain that must be resolved. We have always opted for peace and dialogue.”
Esquerra lawmakers have said Puigdemont has the right to again be Catalan president, but if he is unable to return from Brussels he should step aside for Junqueras.
Esquerra and Junts per Catalunya, along with a smaller separatist party, have not yet agreed on a coalition.
Rajoy fired both Junqueras and Puigdemont when he imposed direct control over Catalonia after its separatist-controlled government declared independence following an Oct. 1 referendum on secession from Spain, which courts ruled illegal.
Junqueras’s defense, and other separatist leaders, contend that the independence drive was legal and they have criticized the Spanish government and judiciary for what they call a heavy-handed response.
At a court hearing on Thursday, Junqueras said he was a man of peace and dialogue.
However, judges said on Friday they did not believe that his offer of dialogue indicated he would abandon the “conflict with the state.”
Spanish court rejects release for jailed Catalan separatist Junqueras
Spanish court rejects release for jailed Catalan separatist Junqueras
Australia to deploy long-range reconnaissance plane to Gulf
- The government says there are about 115,000 Australian nationals across the Middle East, of whom about 2,600 have returned home.
SYDNEY: Australia will deploy a long-range military reconnaissance plane to the Gulf to protect civilians, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday.
An E-7A Wedgetail aircraft and supporting defense force personnel will be sent for an initial period of four weeks to help “protect and secure the airspace above the Gulf,” Albanese told a news conference.
Australia also plans to provide advanced, medium-range air-to-air missiles to the United Arab Emirates “in response to a request,” the prime minister said.
The UAE, in which there are an estimated 24,000 Australians, has shot down more than 1,500 rockets and drones fired by Iran in reprisal following US-Israeli strikes, he said.
Albanese said he decided to send the advanced radar surveillance plane to the Gulf following a discussion with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“The first priority of my government is, and always will be, to keep Australians safe,” the prime minister said.
“Helping Australians means also helping the UAE and other Gulf nations to defend themselves against what are unprovoked attacks,” he added.
“My government has been clear that we’re not taking offensive action against Iran, and we’ve been clear that we are not deploying Australian troops on the ground in Iran.”
The government says there are about 115,000 Australian nationals across the Middle East, of whom about 2,600 have returned home.
“Significant challenges remain, and further work is underway to support those still seeking to leave,” Albanese said.
Australia said last week it had deployed a heavy transport plane and a fuel transport plane to the Middle East as part of plans to get its citizens out of the region.
Canberra has been careful to make clear that its forces are not engaging in offensive operations against Iran.
On Friday, Albanese revealed that Australian military personnel were aboard an American submarine that sank an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka.
The personnel were on the submarine as part of training arrangements under AUKUS, a multi-decade defense pact with Britain and the United States, he said, stressing that they did not take part in the attack.
