Catalan Separatist Trial
Former prime minister Mariano Rajoy will testify in the high-profile trial of separatist leaders on February 26, the Supreme Court said yesterday.
In a statement, the court said other witnesses who will testify next week include Catalonia’s former president Artur Mas and Spain’s former deputy prime minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.
The announcement came as the 12 defendants continued to be questioned at Madrid’s Supreme Court in a trial for rebellion and other offences under intense domestic and foreign scrutiny.
Yesterday former regional government spokesman Jordi Turull took the stand, defending his acts and that of his colleagues.
“It’s totally normally to try and do what you promised to citizens in a peaceful and democratic manner,” he told the seven judges.
Chiringuito Blaze
POLICE in Marbella have launched an investigation into a fire which broke out at a chiringuito yesterday afternoon just days after a similar fire in the area.
Firefighters were called out to the Bounty Beach chiringuito on El Pinillo beach at around 1.30pm. Five vehicles were sent, with the blaze put out around an hour after it began.
Footage posted on social media showed the Bounty Beach bar building engulfed in flames and a column of black smoke rising in the air.
The fire follows a blaze which gutted the Playa Padre bar eight days before.
Vodaphone
Vodaphone was down across the whole of Spain yesterday leaving customers offline.
The announcement came at 11.40 am and the problem was expected to last all day and probably all of today, although the company says it is working hard on trying to fix it.
Landline telephones operated by Vodafone are also causing problems, although mobile phone coverage is not generally affected.
The network fault relates to ADSL home internet and Wi-Fi, on phones and computers, and to landline calls.
Some say it is ‘suspicious’ that the service breakdown has coincided with a major meeting of Vodafone workers to negotiate conditions of a planned mass redundancy, which is expected to affect up to 1,200 employees in Spain.
Vodafone denies any connection between the two.
Wanted Brit.
A WANTED Brit who was allegedly a member of a notorious guns and drugs gang has been spotted.
Leon Cullen, from Liverpool, is currently wanted for conspiracy to supply firearms and cocaine.
People who know Cullen told UK Media he is hiding out among the expat community in Benidorm.
He has been wanted since police smashed a Warrington -based drug and guns gang led by his brother Anthony.
The Cullen gang was heavily armed, with access to a AK47 assault rifle, a pump action shotgun and handguns.
Crimestoppers said: “He is white, about 5ft 8in tall and of a slim build.
“Officers also describe him as having short light brown hair, a tanned complexion and prominent white teeth.
“He also has two distinctive tattoos.”
Crimestoppers is now offering a reward of up to £5,000 for information about Cullen’s whereabouts.