Spanish Court Convicts Catalan Foreign Policy Chief For Involvement In 2017 Referendum

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2021) A Spanish court has stripped Bernat Sole, the Catalan government's foreign action minister and former mayor of Agramunt, of the right to hold public office and fined him some $20,000 over his involvement in the illegal referendum on the independence of the autonomous community from Spain in 2017.

According to the verdict of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, Sole cannot hold public office for one year and has to pay a fine of over $20,000. The verdict was issued in connection with Sole's participation in the preparation for the independence referendum on October 1, 2017, when the politician was serving as the mayor of Agramunt.

The verdict can be appealed, and Sole still has the right to continue holding office in the Catalan government until the proceedings are over.

The court revealed that the former mayor had allowed the use of premises belonging to the city council for political campaigning, and had also actively participated in the agitation, urging residents to come to vote, despite the fact that the referendum was banned by the Spanish Constitutional Court and the central government.

During the court hearing, which took place in December, the politician denied all charges and said that he participated in political events for the sake of "maintaining order."

Sole has become the second member of the Catalan government to be charged with disobeying the authorities. The now former head of the Catalan government, Quim Torra, who was sentenced for refusing to remove separatist symbols and posters from the Catalan government building during the election campaigns in Spain in 2019, was also stripped of the right to hold public office.

On October 1, 2017, Catalonia held a referendum in which over 90 percent of voters supported the region's independence from Spain. Madrid declared the referendum illegal and arrested a number of pro-independence politicians. The Supreme Court of Spain has sentenced nine pro-independence Catalan leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison on sedition charges, while three other officials were ordered to pay fines over disobedience.