Barcelona will now be the venue for the disobedience case against former ERC general secretary Marta Rovira, after the Spanish Supreme Court said it does not have jurisdiction to hear it.
According to a court order issued on 25 May 2026, the criminal chamber said Rovira no longer has parliamentary immunity, so the high court has lost competence over the case. It also upheld the investigating judge’s decision to prosecute her only for the offence of disobedience.
The ruling means the proceedings will continue in Catalonia, moving from the national high court to the news section’s wider coverage of current affairs and legal developments. The court’s decision is about jurisdiction and Rovira’s current status, not the substance of the charge itself.
Rovira was not tried by the Supreme Court alongside other Catalan leaders because she moved to Switzerland in May 2018. That happened after the court had already opened proceedings against political figures linked to the 2017 independence referendum.
Her departure meant she was not part of the same legal process as those who stayed in Spain. The latest ruling clarifies where her case should now be heard, after she no longer held the parliamentary protection that had been relevant to the earlier stage of the proceedings.
The Barcelona Provincial Court will now take over the case. It is the latest procedural step in the long-running legal aftermath of the 2017 referendum.