1-O judicial anomaly: cases across 4 courts

The Supreme Court (SC) upheld its decision to keep hold of the 1-O trial, despite demands from defence teams to hold the trial in Barcelona. However, unpredictably, the court declined to try the six former members of the Committee of Parliament accused of disobedience. Instead these cases will be heard by the Superior Tribunal of Justice of Catalonia. The SC has created an anomaly, in that cases relating to 1-O and the independence process will be judged by four different courts in two cities: Court of Instruction number 13 of Barcelona, the Superior Tribunal of Justice of Catalonia, the National Court - in the case of the Major Josep Lluís Trapero- and the Supreme Court in Madrid. 2019 is a municipal and autonomous community election year, so the Supreme Court wants trials to begin in January and have sentences by summer. It will try civil society leaders Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, and former president of Parliament Carme Forcadell - all accused of rebellion and sedition, which carry potential sentences of 25 years. Despite the significant sentence lengths, Manuel Marchena, President of the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court, in a report yesterday, also ruled out having simultaneous translation during the trials, so that the accused can use their mother tongue, Catalan, during their defences.