Charging Artur Mas over Catalonia's 'illegal referendum' turns him into a 'martyr'

Catalonia’s government has denounced as politically motivated, charges of civil disobedience being brought against their acting regional president. Artur Mas who won election success on Sunday with his separatist campaign is now being accused of holding an allegedly illegal independence referendum last year. Josep Rull, CDC (Democratic Convergence of Catalonia) said the move would backfire: “Efforts are underway to win in the courts what they were not able to win at the ballot box. Charging the Catalonian president turns him into a martyr known both nationally and internationally.” The pro-unity opposition, Ciudadanos Party leader, Albert Rivera said: “We are not going to interfere in the Constitutional State. If somebody is being brought to be legally accountable I think it is because there is something behind it.” Although the full weight of Span’s constitutional law is being leveled against Mas, political analysts such Jordi Matas, Professor in Political Science for the University of Barcelona, can’t see how the legal move will have any affect. “To start with, Artur Mas will become a (regional) congressman. And as such he will have parliamentary immunity. Hence the justice department will need the approval from the Catalan parliament for him to be formally accused.” On November 9, 2014, the Catalan administration defied a court order and held what they called a symbolic independence referendum. More than 2.3 people voted and around 80 percent of them backed secession from Spain. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));[You Question] Would you like to see Catalonia split from Spain?❏ Yes❏ No❏ I don't knowPosted by euronews on Tuesday, September 29, 2015