Seven members of Catalan Committees for Defence of the Republic (CDR) arrested on Monday on charges including terrorism and possession of explosives, will be kept in custody without bail. That's the decision of an investigating judge from the National Audience in Madrid, Manuel García-Castellón, after a four-hour-long hearing this Thursday. The measure had been requested by public prosecutor Miguel Ángel Carballo, who warned the seven aimed to "subvert the constitutional order and gravely disrupt the peace".

The judge accepted the prosecutor's arguments and charges: membership of a terrorist organisation, fabrication and possession of explosives and conspiracy to cause damages. Prosecutor's argued they should be denied bail given the severity of the sentences associated with such charges, the possibility of them destroying evidence should they be released, the possibility they might reoffend if released and the flight risk they believe they pose. The charge of rebellion, which did appear in statements from the public prosecution service on Monday, appears to have been dropped.

García-Castellón believes there is evidence they are part of so-called ERT (Tactical Response Teams), which he describes as "an organisation with a hierarchical structure which aims to establish the Catalan Republic by any path, including violent [ones]".

According to National Audience sources, the judge is keeping the case under seal "whilst he analyses the large quantities of documentation seized during this judicial operation". Despite the secrecy, some details of the prosecution case have emerged, like claims they have video recorded by police of some of the suspects testing explosives in an abandoned quarry, as have reports that two of the seven have admitted to having "bought [materials] and carried out tests for making" explosives.

The seven detainees arrived at the National Audience around 7am, brought in a Civil Guard van from the gendarmerie's station at Tres Cantos (Madrid), where they have been held for the last three nights.