SPAIN’s public prosecutor is seeking a 25-year jail sentence for Oriol Junqueras, former Catalan vice-president and leader of the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), for his part in the independence referendum in October last year.

Papers lodged at the Spanish Supreme Court this morning seek harsh sentences for the allegation of violent rebellion, despite the lack of violence during what is known in Catalonia as 1-O.

Prosecutors are seeking a total of 177 years in prison for members of the Catalan government who organised the referendum and declared independence, and for the former parliament speaker and two leading activists.

Spain has been unable to extradite former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont from Belgium, or other former ministers who are in exile across Europe, and Junqueras has been labelled as the promoter and “principal leader” of the events of 1-O.