Catalan leader will not be released from jail while under investigation
Madrid — On Friday, Spain’s supreme court ordered that Catalan separatist leader Oriol Junqueras 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 offence 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 December 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 January 17 and complicates the separatist parties’ search for a leader who is neither jailed nor abroad...
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