The Latest: Spain asks for jailing of Catalonia police chief
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - The Latest on the Spain-Catalonia political crisis (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
A Spanish prosecutor is asking for Catalonia's regional police chief to be jailed in a sedition case related to the staging of Catalonia's banned Oct. 1 secession referendum.
Maj. Josep Lluis Trapero testified for about two hours at Madrid's National Court on Monday, following which the court prosecutor recommended he be sent to prison provisionally without bail. The judge will decide on the request after 6 p.m. (1600 GMT).
Trapero, another regional police offer and the leaders of two pro-independence associations are under investigation for sedition for their roles in Sept. 20-21 demonstrations in Barcelona as Spanish police arrested several Catalan officials and raided offices in a crackdown on referendum preparations.
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10:10 a.m.
Spain's deputy prime minister says that Catalonia's leader didn't give an adequate response in his letter about the region's independence and has until Thursday to comply with the country's laws.
Carles Puigdemont's letter, issued two hours before a Monday deadline, didn't clarify whether he in fact declared Catalonia's independence from Spain. He called for talks with Spain's government.
Spain's central government wanted a simple "yes" or "no" answer from Puigdemont, something that Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that he didn't provide.
Saenz de Santamaria said in an address to reporters that "it wasn't very difficult to say yes or no. That was the question that was asked and the response shouldn't be complicated."
She said he has until Thursday morning to fall in line, or faces the possibility of Spain activating Article 155 of the Constitution which would allow the central government to take over parts of Catalonia's self-governance.
She said that Puigdemont's call for dialogue is "not credible" and that Spain's national parliament is the place to talk.
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8:45 a.m.
Two senior Catalan regional police force officers and the leaders of two pro-independence associations are in court again, facing possible sedition charges related to the staging of the region's banned Oct. 1 secession referendum.
The sedition case is investigating the roles of the four in Sept. 20-21 demonstrations in Barcelona as Spanish police arrested several Catalan officials and raided offices in a crackdown on referendum preparations.
The four include Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero and Jordi Sanchez, the head of the Catalan National Assembly.
The appearance at the National Court in Madrid on Monday coincided with the release of a letter from Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in which he didn't clarify whether he declared Catalonia's independence from Spain last week. Spain's government had given him a Monday deadline to respond explicitly whether he proclaimed independence.
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8:35 a.m.
Catalonia's leader hasn't clarified whether he declared independence from Spain in a letter to the central government and has renewed a call for dialogue.
Last week, Spain had set a Monday deadline for Carles Puigdemont to explicitly say whether or not he proclaimed that Catalonia was breaking away from Spain.
Puigdemont held a banned independence referendum on Oct. 1 and then made an ambiguous declaration of independence last week. He then immediately suspended the declaration to allow time for talks and mediation.
In Monday's letter, Puigdemont didn't answer "yes" or "no" to the question "have you declared independence in Catalonia" as demanded by the Spanish government. He called for two months of dialogue and requested that Spanish authorities halt "all repression" in Catalonia.