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Catalonia: Spain's constitutional court declares Catalan referendum law void Catalonia: Spain's constitutional court declares Catalan referendum law void
(35 minutes later)
The referendum law passed by the Catalan government on 6 September to hold a vote on independence was void, a spokesman for Spain's Constitutional Court has said. Spain's top court has officially ruled that Catalonia's disputed independence referendum was illegal because a regional law that backed it was against Spain's constitution.
The court had originally suspended the referendum law as it studied its legality, though the Catalan government went ahead with the ballot regardless. The Catalan regional parliament passed the so-called "self-determination referendum law" in early September.
More follows… Regional leaders went on to stage the October 1 referendum on whether the region should separate from Spain.
Spain's Constitutional Court had earlier suspended the law temporarily while judges assessed the Spanish government's objection to it.
In its ruling on Tuesday, the court said the law was against national sovereignty and the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".
The court said that the parliamentary session that approved the law was also illegal.
Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull said he was not surprised, saying: "We are facing an executive power in the state that uses the judiciary branch to block the legislative."
In Barcelona protesters gathered for a fresh round of demonstrations in Barcelona to demand the release of two leaders of Catalonia's pro-independence movement who were jailed in a sedition probe.
A Madrid judge on Monday provisionally jailed Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, the leaders of grassroots organisations Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural.
The judge ruled they were orchestrators of massive demonstrations on September 20 to 21 in Barcelona that hindered a police operation against preparations for the October 1 independence referendum.
AP
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