The criminal chamber of Spain's Supreme Court has rejected giving defence council for the indicted Catalan pro-independence leaders longer to file their provisional arguments in response to the indictments. The court has decided to stick to its original decision of 10 days for the 18 Catalan politicians, including the nine in prison, to present their escritos de calificación.
Lawyers for the former president of the Catalan National Assembly, Jordi Sànchez, and former ministers Jordi Turull and Josep Rull had asked for 90 days instead of 10 to prepare their filings. If the court were to consider that excessive, they suggested, they would like at least 30.
The court has now denied both requests, although it noted that the 10 days will only start to count down once a number of prior questions have been resolved in a written ruling. These questions are to be raised in a hearing which could come in mid-December.