On November 2, 2017 the recently deposed vice president of Catalonia Oriol Junqueras and five other ex-ministers arrived at Aranjuez prison, forty miles outside of Madrid. As they were removed from the police van, officers escorting them decided to make the prisoners stand in the yard and listen to the Spanish national anthem three times on a mobile phone. This act of petty humiliation set the tone for the subsequent fifteen months, with the Spanish judiciary seemingly intent on making an example of the independentist leaders.

Now, the trial of Junqueras and eight other prominent Catalans is beginning in Spain’s Supreme Court, after over a year in which they have been subjected to “preventative detention.” Many within the independence movement believe a guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion, not least because leaked text messages from a leading Popular Party (right-wing) senator claimed that the presiding judge, Manuel Marchena, will allow conservative forces to dominate proceedings.

The handling to date of the Catalan leaders’ case has indeed been eminently political. This owes not just to their punitive pre-trial detention, but also to the bizarre role afforded to extreme-right party, Vox, who will act as a third “private” prosecutor along with the public prosecutor and state’s council. This will give Vox’s lawyers the opportunity to interrogate witnesses ranging from ex-prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and the Basque first minister live on television. Just months before a series of elections in Spain, they could not hope for a better soapbox.