The former Catalan prime minister Artur Mas has insisted he was following a democratic mandate when he organised a symbolic independence referendum three years ago and had no intention “of committing any crime or disobeying anyone”.
Mas, who governed Catalonia from 2010 to 2016, appeared in the high court in Barcelona on Monday along with the former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau.
They are accused of criminal disobedience and breach of trust for holding the non-binding referendum in defiance of Spain’s constitutional court. If convicted, Mas could face a 10-year ban on holding office while Ortega and Rigau could be barred for nine years.
About 40,000 people took to the streets of Barcelona to show their support for the trio as they arrived for the start of their trial. Many held red and yellow separatist flags and some shouted: “Independence, independence!”, “Down with Spain’s justice system!” and “We want to vote!”
Although the constitutional court ruled the referendum was illegal five days before it was held on 9 November 2014, Mas and others went ahead with the vote, helped by more than 40,000 volunteers who opened schools and installed polling stations.
More than 80% of participants opted for independence, but only 2.3 million of Catalonia’s 5.4 million eligible voters took part.
Mas declined to answer questions from the prosecution on Monday morning, but told defence lawyers he was responsible for planning and driving the referendum.
However, he denied anyone had been motivated by a simple desire to defy the Spanish authorities. “There was no intent to commit any crime or disobey anyone,” he said. “Our aim was to rise to the challenge and promote participation by all possible means.”
Mas also asked why the Spanish judiciary had not done more to prevent the vote, asking: “If this was so clearly a crime, why didn’t the constitutional court do anything to stop it?”
Speaking before the proceedings began, he accused the Spanish authorities of seeking to punish their opponents. “Independence isn’t on trial here, democracy is on trial,” he told Agence France-Presse in the courthouse.
“It’s the first time that a democratic government is [being] tried for having allowed people to vote. It’s an unprecedented moment.”
But Spain’s foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, insisted the trial was merely proof of the rule of law in Spain, adding: “What is on trial is an act that failed to acknowledge a constitutional court sentence, nothing more.”
The trial, scheduled for five days, comes amid souring relations between Madrid and Barcelona and seven months before the pro-independence Catalan government plans to hold a binding referendum on splitting from Spain.
The renewed push has again been blocked by Spain’s constitutional court. It has warned Mas’s successor, Carles Puigdemont, and Carme Forcadell, the speaker of the Catalan parliament, that they had a duty to “stop or paralyse” any move to ignore or dodge the suspension, or face “potential liabilities, including at a penal level”. Forcadell faces charges of contempt of court and neglect of duty for allowing the parliament to vote on plans to secede from Spain last July.
While the separatist movement has acquired huge momentum over recent years, any vote would probably be very close. A poll at the end of December showed 46.8% of people in the region are against independence, compared with 45.3% who are in favour.