Jailed pro-independence minister Joaquim Forn kept in jail

The Spanish Supreme Court kept the pro-independence jailed minister Joaquim Forn in prison on Friday. The judge argued that he poses a risk of repeat offense, although he stepped down from his post as MP on January 23. Forn has been in prison for exactly three months accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds.

Forn was the Catalan home affairs minister during the events that led to the referendum on self-determination and the declaration of independence last autumn. Despite giving up his post as MP, he will remain behind bars along with the Catalan deposed vice president, Oriol Junqueras, and two pro-independence grassroots leaders, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez.

The Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena said that it is not clear whether a majority of people in Catalonia commit themselves to pursuing independence through legal means—that is, abiding by the Spanish law. Llarena states that Forn’s aspirations of independence were what awarded him the ministerial post in the first place.

On January 11, Forn and other imprisoned Catalan leaders rejected achieving independence unilaterally and requested the Court to review the case for which he had been preemptively jailed.