MADRID: Spain's Supreme Court said Thursday it had adjourned until November 9 the hearings of former members of Catalonia's dissolved parliament including speaker Carme Forcadell at the request of their lawyers.
Accused by prosecutors of sedition and rebellion over the region's independence drive, which carry sentences of up to 15 and 30 years in jail respectively, the six had been summoned to court for questioning by a judge.
It was as yet unknown why their hearings were adjourned by the court, which deals with cases involving lawmakers.
Nearby in the Spanish capital's National Court, which hears major criminal cases, eight former Catalan government members were being questioned after also being summoned in the investigation into the secession drive.
Conspicuously absent though was the region's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his former ministers, who travelled to Belgium after the central government imposed direct rule on Catalonia on Friday as the regional parliament declared independence.
They decided to stay put in Belgium, slamming in a statement a "political trial dictated by the Spanish government."