Ok lets break this down. Its not similar to Brexit, United kingdom is a union of different countries, Spain is a single country.

The UK allowed a referendum because it has to. Spain voted its constitution in 1978, that means most of the voters are still alive and it got ratified in every community including Barcelona. So there are people protesting now that the constitution does not imminently allow a referendum that voted in favour of that clause being there 40 years ago.

They got prosecuted for crimes such as sedecion, which is like treason light, and misuse of public funds. I dont see how German murder charges are relevant here. Politicians misusing taxes should be heavily punished regardless of country, corruption is eroding the already fragile public sector and safety net we have.

Also Spain is a democracy, if they want a referendum all the have to do is find the votes for it in national parliment. Join with the basque and galician sececionists. Find allies in far left groups who affect self determination by identitarian groups, and vote it. What you cannot claim is that 51% of Catalans = democracy and 66% of Spanish congress = not democracy. They are simply thresholds, and Spain is more stingent than most. But i would argue 66% avoids Brexit like votes so it is preferable in the age of internet manipulation where hitting vulnerable masses of people is accesible through Cambridge analytica type election manipulation.

> The UK allowed a referendum because it has to. Spain voted its constitution in 1978, that means most of the voters are still alive and it got ratified in every community including Barcelona. So there are people protesting now that the constitution does not imminently allow a referendum that voted in favour of that clause being there 40 years ago.

You mean the same vote where people could chose whether to apply that constitution or continue living in a dictatorship? Ah yes, if that's not democracy I don't know what is!

Those where not the only two options. That was the fear and one of the reasons it got voted so effusively. But other regions like the Basque Country refused to give up territorial and historical rights like their tax charter which they have had for ages. Catalunya did not get special treatment, did not negociate any special treatment, and their retconning of history into "we were bullied into this deal ages ago and now we are oppresed" is objectively false. They are one of the most prosperous regions in Spain, the constitution voters are quite alive and until the last couple years they had no real claim of interference of the central goverment in their affairs.

Spain allows for constitutional reform so its not like the dictatorship or constitution choice was an end all of debate. It simply that the threashold for Spain to allow changes to the constitution are 66% of Spanish goverment. So I have a hard time seeing how 51% of Catalans = democracy 66% of Spain = oppresion. Both seem democratic, now the question is who gets to vote and how many votes you need. But that doesn't make it less democratic, it might be unfair but thats a completely different topic.

> The UK allowed a referendum because it has to

No? There was no "has to" involved anywhere, it was a choice of the central government to permit it. Referendums are extremely rare in the UK until recently, and all run on an adhoc basis.

The interesting part is that the 13 years sentence might actually be illegal, and won’t hold up against an EU court.

As Puigdemont was in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany at the moment of the arrest, German law limits the crimes for which Spain could extradite him, and limits the maximum sentence Spain can enforce, per the extradition agreement. This also applies to the cases which happened after the extradition.

One can speculate why he specifically chose Schleswig-Holstein, but it’s the only region in Europe where, 1920, due to a peaceful referendum, a part of the country separated, and joined another country – the Northern Schleswig seceding from Germany and joining Denmark.

Which is why the judges in Germany ruling over the extradition were likely more positive towards him, and first ruled that any and all cases against him for treason, secession, and anything like it have to be dropped, and he can only be extradited to spain under the condition that spain only prosecute him and any people he worked together with for misuse of public funds.

And this ruling by the court deciding over the extradition also meant that spain can at most enforce a sentence of a few months, but mostly only a monetary fine.

So what Spain is doing here is legally against most EU laws.

Which is not the first time, considering EU law specifically demands the right for self-determination for any and all people, minorities, and regional groups, such as the danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein for example, and the same applies to the catalan minority in Spain.

> One can speculate why he specifically chose Schleswig-Holstein, but it’s the only region in Europe where, 1920, due to a peaceful referendum

How was the split of Czechoslovakia done?

According to Wikipedia, that was done without a referendum:

> Public perception of the dissolution has not changed much, with a December 2017 poll showing that just 42% of Czechs and 40% of Slovaks agree with what happened (compared to 36% and 37% in 1992, respectively). According to Czech political analyst Lubomir Kopeček, many Czechs and Slovaks view the breakup process unfavourably because they had no say in the matter. Most people would have rather had a referendum decide.

> 13 years, that's on the upper range for murder in Germany, for comparison

That's obviously false.

Murder carries a penalty of life imprisonment, and while there are regular checks whether a murderer can be released, those checks start after 15 years imprisonment at the earliest, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that the prisoner gets eventually released.

It is absolutely possible and not uncommon to spend the rest of your life in prison (or until very shortly before your death, because prisons aren't really equipped to handle bedridden people who need full-time care).

Spain, unlike the UK, has a written constitution, in which the indivisibility of the state is stated.

This means that the first step for any region to legally have any chance of leaving Spain is to change the constitution, which needs bigger than simple majorities (3/5 or 2/3 depending on the procedure), so it's unlikely that this will happen any time soon.

The people that organised the referendum knew this and still went ahead and then things took a turn for the worse.

The referendum can happen anyway and the application of the result can be done by modifying the Constitution.

Let's be honest, the only reason not to allow the referendum is that the Spanish Gvnt. does not want it to happen.

That is one reason.

The other reason is that you'd be hard pressed to find a 3/5 or 2/3 support in parliament for amending the constitution so that the state is no longer indivisible.

The issue is the ramifications which come with a referendum.

Let's imagine secession wins with a 52%, and everybody decide to divide Spain. This means 48% of the people are going to be taken their Spanish passports and citizenship off, and they become just Catalans. This opens a can of worms in terms of stability of the region, which may very easily end up in another civil war, like the one that happened few decades ago.

Another solution would be to split Catalonia in two regions. This definitely will end up badly, taking in consideration how resentful Spaniards have been through their history.

I do not know if this quote is originally from Bismarck as some people claim, but he rightly said:

"I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success’"

Let's imagine the referendum can't happen. Then an unknown % of people have to hold the passport they don't want to hold. How is that better?

Besides, who says that anyone is going to lose their citizenship? Wouldn't that be something to negotiate over? Can't you hold the Spanish citizenship AND another one if you are from LATAM? It's just a matter of political willingness.

But I guess it is better to introduce artificial barriers for this to happen if you happen to be in the situation that you want.

> Let's imagine secession wins with a 52%, and everybody decide to divide Spain. This means 48% of the people are going to be taken their Spanish passports and citizenship off, and they become just Catalans.

What about dual citizenship? I am sure there is a way to peacefully resolve such a split.