Spain opens 'terror' probe into Catalan separatist leader

February 29, 2024 06:59 PM

Spain's top court said Thursday it was opening an investigation into Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on "terrorism" charges over protests linked to the failed 2017 Catalan independence bid.

In a statement, the Supreme Court said it had decided "to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute" Puigdemont "for terrorism offences in relation to the Democratic Tsunami case".

Democratic Tsunami is a secretive Catalan protest group behind a string of protests after Spain jailed 13 pro-independence leaders, two years after their botched bid to break away from Spain.

The independence bid had sparked the country's worst political crisis in decades.

On the day the sentence was handed down in October 2019, thousands of activists blocked access to Barcelona airport for several hours, prompting the cancellation of over 100 flights.

During clashes between police and protesters, 115 were injured.

In its decision, the court referred to the crime of "street terrorism".

The aim, it said, was to "undermine law and order, to seriously breach the peace, to cause causing serious harm to the functioning of an international organisation or to cause a sense of terror within the population or part of it".

There was "evidence pointing to Carles Puigdemont's participation in the events under investigation", the ruling added, referring to his involvement in the creation of the group whose aim was "to subvert law and order and to seriously destabilise democratic institutions".