Spanish prosecutors to file charges against Artur Mas

Catalan regional leader, Artur Mas, will have to face charges of civil disobedience for organizing an unofficial independence vote last year and if found guilty could be banned from public office for 10 years.

Mas organized the Nov. 9 vote after Spain's Constitutional Court ruled that an official referendum over the independence of the region in the North-east of Spain was illegal.

The court later declared the unofficial and "symbolic" vote to also be illegal, although it went ahead with the help of thousands of volunteers and with 2.3 million people voting.

Mas' former deputy, Joana Ortega and Education Minister, Irene Rigau, also face charges, which range from preventing the course of justice and the misuse of public funds.

The trio will have to appear in court on Oct. 15, an event which is likely to further inflame feelings in the wake of the Sept. 27 election in which the pro-independence parties won a majority of seats in the Generalitat, but failed to win a majority of votes, claiming 47.75 percent of the total vote.

Reactions have not been slow in coming with Oriol Junkereras, Mas' main partner in Junts Pel Si, said the summons showed why the region needed independence, while Antonio Banos, the leader of CUP, said: "myself and 2,000,000 Catalans also disobeyed, so if they want to summon all of us, we would be delighted."

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday in a brief statement, that he would be willing to speak to all of the parties in the election, but that he would not negotiate on demands for independence. Endit