SANT JOAN DE VILATORRADA, Spain — The man who will shape Spain’s immediate political future enters a 6 square meter room and taps softly with his fist on the thick glass panel separating him from visitors.

“It means respect. It’s one of the things we learn in prison.”

Oriol Junqueras, a former vice president of Catalonia, has been in prison awaiting trial for 14 months. Charged with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds, he faces a potential jail term of 25 years.

Junqueras is the main figure in what could be the most important criminal case ever brought before a Spanish court. He's one of 12 former government officials, lawmakers and civil leaders who will appear before the Supreme Court early this year on charges related to the October 2017 referendum on secession and subsequent declaration of independence by the Catalan parliament.

The court dealing with the case, which will be broadcast live on TV, is composed of seven judges. It's in their hands how Spain deals with those allegedly responsible for the gravest political crisis the country has faced in its four-decade-long democracy.

Junqueras argued that the judges “are manifestly biased and act following political criteria.”

“The trial is important, very important,” Junqueras, 49, told POLITICO in an interview at Lledoners prison, 70 kilometers from Barcelona, where he and eight other Catalan secessionists are being held.

“It’s our obligation that this trial, which isn’t going to be fair, becomes a lever for democratic change in the face of a state which is regressing in democratic terms,” he said in the interview, which was supplemented by written responses sent through his team.

He may be behind bars, but Junqueras has serious political clout. He remains in charge of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) — one of the two main secessionist parties that form Catalonia’s ruling coalition.

The ERC is also one of the parties that backed Pedro Sánchez's push to oust Mariano Rajoy as prime minister last summer, and Sánchez relies on the support of the secessionists and others to pass legislation. He'll need that support in the coming months to approve the 2019 budget or it could result in an early election.

Junqueras — a former history professor, town mayor and MEP — wouldn’t say whether he'll back the prime minister. “The budget is important, but rights and liberties are more important,” he said.

The way Junqueras sees it, he’s being unfairly prosecuted for defending the basic democratic rights of Catalan citizens. “My children have been able to see their father just 36 hours [in a year], only because their father has defended the right to vote,” he said.

Pablo Llarena, the judge in charge of the investigative phase of the case, disagrees. In his indictment last March, he described the actions of Junqueras and others as “an attack on constitutional order, aiming to impose a change in the form of government in Catalonia … beyond comparison to [anything that’s happened] in any democracy of our environment.”

The prosecutor’s office described in its own indictment in November a plot by the Catalan government, pro-independence parties and secessionist civil organizations to “force the state to accept the separation of that territory, a goal that they nearly attained.” It says the accused were prepared to use any means, including “violence ... to assure the desired criminal result.”

The state’s attorney, another national legal body, supports most of the prosecutor’s narrative, but doesn’t agree on the use of violence. It has accused Junqueras and others of the lesser charge of sedition, rather than rebellion, and has called for a 12-year prison term, rather than 25.

“I will only consider acquittal,” Junqueras said, adding that he won't ask for a pardon if found guilty. “That would be as much as admitting my guilt, and I’m not guilty of any of the offenses I’m charged with.”

Junqueras said he’s ready to spend as many years in prison as it takes, and argued that the judges “are manifestly biased and act following political criteria.”

Criminal or not?

While few doubt that what the Catalan separatists did is illegal — they defied the constitution and disobeyed court orders — many believe they should not be charged with rebellion or sedition. These include Pascual Sala, a former president of the Supreme Court, and even Sánchez himself.

“Even if it sounds strange, unilaterally declaring the independence of a territory is not a criminal offense. It’s criminally irrelevant,” said Josep Maria Noales, a judge and member of Ágora Judicial, which backs Catalonia’s self-determination.

However, Noales dismissed claims that Spanish judges act on government orders. “The independence of the Supreme Court is absolute,” he said, adding that this doesn’t necessarily mean they are impartial.

“Everything we do must rely on the implication of a social and political majority. If you’re a noisy minority, you don’t have any possibility of achieving such a deep change as the one we’re proposing” — Oriol Junqueras

Other criticisms of the proceedings have come from farther afield.

Last year a German court refused to extradite former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont for rebellion. Unlike Junqueras, Puigdemont fled the country after the independence declaration. The German court argued that the equivalent offense in German law, high treason, requires a level of violence that wasn’t seen in Catalonia. The court did agree, however, that Puigdemont should be sent to Spain to face the charge of misuse of public funds.

Judge Llarena later dropped the extradition request, which is why Puigdemont — and a handful of others who fled the country — won’t be among those facing trial, as Spanish law does not allow them to be tried in absentia.

As well as legal arguments, the trial has also triggered a debate on the effects it will have on the political situation in Catalonia.

Some say the proceedings — and the potential long prison sentences — will exacerbate tensions. Others believe Catalan leaders need to comply with the law or face the consequences, just like anyone else.

“Justice is part of the solution,” said Joaquim Coll, a historian and former vice president of anti-independence group Societat Civil Catalana. “Nationalists always play the game to win or to draw … when they face the possibility of losing for real, they will think twice.”

Junqueras sees things differently and hasn’t given up on independence.

“October 1 isn’t the end of anything; it’s the beginning of everything,” he said, referring to the date of the outlawed referendum, which Rajoy attempted — and failed — to stop by sending in riot police.

The most recent political manifesto from the ERC — approved in the summer after a heated internal debate — mentions the possibility of unilateral secession from Spain, invoking the case of Kosovo's independence from Serbia (which neither Spain nor Serbia recognizes).

However, Junqueras has typically adopted a softer tone of late, pushing for secessionists to avoid breaking the law and seeking to find wider support for their cause before taking further steps. Pro-independence parties won a combined 48 percent of the vote in the last regional ballot, in December 2017 — roughly the same as in the 2015 election.

Puigdemont volunteered to sign up to a joint pro-independence list of candidates for the European election, an offer that was swiftly rejected by Junqueras.

“Everything we do must rely on the implication of a social and political majority,” Junqueras said. “If you’re a noisy minority, you don’t have any possibility of achieving such a deep change as the one we’re proposing.”

At the same time, Junqueras is fighting a battle for dominance of the independence camp, with Puigdemont his main opponent.

From his residence in the Belgian town of Waterloo, the former leader wields political power and he handpicked current Catalan President Quim Torra.

Puigdemont and Torra have kept up more defiant rhetoric against the Spanish state. They’ve also tried to corner Junqueras and the ERC by calling for greater unity in the independence camp in future elections.

Junqueras, for example, will be the leading candidate of his party in the European Parliament election in May. Puigdemont volunteered to sign up to a joint pro-independence list of candidates, an offer that was swiftly rejected by Junqueras.

Not tough enough

The Catalan struggle is taking place against a turbulent national backdrop.

Sánchez has adopted a softer approach than Rajoy to Catalan secessionists, prompting fierce criticism from the conservative Popular Party and the liberal Ciudadanos, which are calling for a firmer hand. That changed slightly in December, when the prime minister warned he wouldn’t tolerate “a new breach of constitutional order.”

The Spanish leader then met Torra in Barcelona and they issued a joint statement calling for dialogue “within the framework of legal security” and defending a “political proposal that gathers ample support in Catalan society.”

Each side interprets those words differently. Where officials in Madrid see an abdication of further defiance to the law, Catalan officials demand that the dialogue ends with a referendum on secession.

“Dialogue is indispensable,” Junqueras said in the interview (conducted before the joint statement was released). “But it should lead to making proposals and reaching agreements, not to beating about the bush or to making up for the incapacity to assume challenges with courage.”

“Sánchez needs to be brave and imaginative … or otherwise the Catalan issue will swallow him as it has swallowed others,” said a close adviser to Puigdemont. “If he doesn’t solve anything, for us it’s the same as having Sánchez [as PM] or having [Popular Party leader] Pablo Casado.”

José Luis Ayllón, a former secretary of state and chief of staff under Rajoy, said the Socialist government lacks a coherent strategy on Catalonia.

“We had a position of strength in face of the separatists, among other reasons, because we didn’t need them for anything at all,” Ayllón said. “This government does need them … if it wants a budget approved.”

“The situation is a little absurd,” Ayllón said. “You’re attempting to solve a huge political problem relying on parliamentary support from those whom you’re precisely trying to prevent from generating further trouble.”

Show of support

Lledoners prison has become a pilgrimage site for independence supporters. The road leading to the prison is painted with the yellow ribbons that are the symbol of solidarity with jailed Catalan leaders.

From time to time, people gather outside to cheer Junqueras and the other leaders. Thousands did so on Christmas Day and when they wished a “good night” to Junqueras, a voice, which supporters identified as that of the Catalan leader, responded from inside.

Junqueras said he keeps himself busy by following political developments, giving lessons in history, astronomy and economics, as well as playing football and basketball. He’s written a book dedicated to his children called “Estimats Lluc i Joana. Contes des de la presó” ("Dear Lluc and Joana. Tales from prison").

“I miss my family and my children very much,” he said.

“In a democracy, no one should end up in jail for putting out ballot boxes” — Oriol Junqueras

Junqueras also made references to his Christian values and said he never felt he was “defying the law,” arguing instead that his strategy has been “democratic, open to dialogue, and kind.”

His rivals say he's a wolf in sheep’s clothing and a crafty political operator.

Before the independence referendum, Rajoy’s Cabinet labeled Puigdemont a “fanatic” but had higher hopes for Junqueras.

“He portrayed himself as someone sensible, moderate, who sought a solution,” historian Coll said. “But he was the one who actually turned independence into the No. 1 topic of the agenda and who exploited economic grievances the most.”

Coll compared the role that Junqueras played in Catalonia to that of Nigel Farage in the U.K.

In the buildup to the independence push, which coincided with the gravest economic crisis the country had faced in decades, Junqueras toured dozens of towns and cities blaming Spain’s “fiscal plunder” of Catalonia for the problems of the region.

“Two million pesetas [€12,000] from the pockets of each family go away each year … and don’t come back in any way,” he said in a speech in 2009, adding that “rationality and reason” should make people join the independence cause.

“Since we have shown that we can put 2 million people on the roads of Catalonia [in a demonstration], does someone believe that we aren’t capable of stopping the Catalan economy for a week? And if we do, what impact will it have on Spanish GDP? And what opinion will creditors of the Spanish debt have?” he warned in a speech to the European Parliament in 2013.

Some within the independence process also blame Junqueras for blocking a potential last-minute alternative to the October 2017 crisis, one that would have seen Puigdemont call an early regional ballot instead of going ahead with the declaration of independence.

According to these accounts, Puigdemont had decided to call an election, but pressure from activists, from lawmakers in his own party and Junqueras’ ERC changed his mind.

“It’s obvious that the ERC wanted an early ballot,” said Josep Martí, the communications director of the Catalan government between 2011 and 2016. “But it wanted to appear before public opinion as an immaculate player and have all the costs of the disappointment be included in a bill that only Puigdemont had to pay,” Martí wrote in his book “Cómo ganamos el proceso y perdimos la república” ("How we won the process and lost the republic").

In the prison interview, Junqueras didn’t respond when asked if he regretted some of his past deeds. But he remains committed to the cause: “In a democracy, no one should end up in jail for putting out ballot boxes.”