Former Catalan leaders who rallied for independence in 2017 have been jailed in Spain

THE nine leaders who rallied for Catalan independence in 2017 have been jailed, with sentences ranging between nine and 13 years. 

The prosecution asked for 25 years imprisonment for former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras – but he was sentenced to 13 years, the highest of all the former leaders on trial.

Following the sentence, separatists have announced plans for demonstration and ‘public disobedience.’ 

In total there were 12 defendants on trial for their role in the failed October 1st referendum and the short-lived independence declaration that followed it in Catalonia.

Pro-independence groups, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural, have called on followers to protest – and they have planned on a march starting from the surrounding towns which will end in Barcelona.

The government has deployed anti-riot police to Catalonia, but so far the interior ministry has refused to say how many.