Eight Catalan leaders are jailed

TO MANY in Catalonia it looks like politicised justice. To many elsewhere in Spain it is merely the overdue application of the rule of law to serial abusers of it. What is clear is that the decision on November 2nd by a high-court judge to jail eight members of the sacked Catalan government, pending trial on charges of rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of funds, will have political consequences.

The court case follows the illegal declaration of Catalan independence on October 27th, orchestrated by the separatist regional administration of Carles Puigdemont. In response, Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, invoked Article 155 of Spain’s constitution to impose direct rule in Catalonia, sack Mr Puigdemont and his 13 counsellors and call a regional election for December 21st.