MADRID, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Former members of the Catalan regional government, including former Deputy Prime Minister Oriol Junqueras, arrived at the Spanish National Court in Madrid on Thursday to face questioning over a misuse of funds and other issues related to a declaration of independence made by the Catalan Parliament on Friday.
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was not among them after he opted to remain in Belgium after travelling there from Barcelona on Sunday.
Former Ministers, Clara Ponsati, Toni Comin, Lluis Puig and Meritxell Serrat have also chosen not to return to Spain to face trial.
Puigdemont alleged it was a "political trial", although his lawyer said he would be willing to make his declaration from Belgium, something the prosecution appeared unwilling to accept.
Defense lawyers informed in the Spanish press that the former members of the Catalan government would not answer questions raised by the prosecution and then would only respond to those of their own defense lawyers.
It is not known what conditions Judge Carmen Lamela will place on the defendants, although Spain's state prosecution has requested a jail sentence for most of them, according to medial sources
Several of the defendants, including Junqueras and former Catalan Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Romeva, complained that they only received the notice at mid-morning on Wednesday, leaving them no time to prepare for their defense.
Meanwhile, former Catalan Parliament speaker Carmen Forcadell and five members of the Bureau of the Chamber also appeared in the Spanish High Court to answer similar charges on Thursday.
The six had arrived to testify at 9 a.m. (0200GMT) on Thursday over charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds, but the hearing has now been postponed until Nov. 9 at the request of their lawyers in order to properly prepare their defense.
Although Nov. 9 is a public holiday in Madrid, the court is able to hold a session if required.
The Spanish Constitutional Court decided on Tuesday to temporarily suspend the declaration of independence voted for by the Catalan Parliament on Friday.
The decision was in response to an appeal against the vote made by the Spanish government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
The court's decision means the independence declaration is without any legal effect in the Catalan region.
The Catalan Parliament was dissolved by Rajoy after the Spanish Senate agreed earlier to apply Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to temporarily suspend the region's autonomy.
New elections have been called for the region and will take place on Dec. 21.
