A Spanish Supreme Court judge granted bail Thursday to former Catalan Parliament Speaker Carme Forcadell and four other Catalan lawmakers who appeared in court on charges of rebellion, sedition and misappropriation, according to a court statement.
Forcadell will have to pay bail of 150,000 euros in order to be released.
The other Parliament members — LluÃs Corominas, LluÃs Guinó, Anna Simó and Ramona Barrufet — were released on bail of 25,000 euros, which they will have to deposit by the end of the week.
All five of the accused have been prohibited from leaving Spain, had to surrender their passports and will have to present themselves at a local court on a weekly basis.
The lawmakers face charges over Catalonia’s contentious bid for independence from Spain. Last week, Spain’s high court also ordered eight former ministers from Catalonia’s dissolved government to be detained without bail, while the state prosecutor sought a Europe-wide arrest warrant for ousted leader Carles Puigdemont.
Catalonia held an independence referendum on October 1, which Spain’s Constitutional Court ruled illegal. The crisis came to a head when the Catalan Parliament declared unilateral independence. In response, Madrid sacked Puigdemont and his government, and stripped Catalonia of its cherished autonomy.
