Ex-President of Catalunya Banned from Public Office

Ex-Catalan President Artur Mas has been barred from holding public office for two years after organising an illegal independence referendum in 2014.

The 61-year-old was convicted in Catalunya’s Superior Court of Justice of civil disobedience for organising the symbolic, non-binding poll. Spain’s Constitutional Court had banned the vote at the time.

The pro-independence Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) party called the verdict “disgraceful” and “undemocratic”.

Mr Mas said: “We will appeal in Spain and then take the case to European courts, if we need to.”

The Catalunya court also handed out a 36,500-euro fine to Mas.