MADRID   -   Spain’s top court said on Thursday it was opening an investigation into Catalan separatist lead­er Carles Puigdemont on “ter­rorism” charges over protests linked to Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid. The Supreme Court said it had de­cided “to investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute” Puig­demont “for terrorism offenc­es in relation to the Democrat­ic Tsunami case”. Democratic Tsunami is a secretive Catalan group that spearheaded a string of protests after Spain jailed 13 pro-independence leaders, two years after their botched bid to separate the rich northeast­ern region from Spain. Led by Puigdemont, who was Cata­lan regional leader at the time, the failed independence bid sparked Spain’s worst politi­cal crisis in decades. Although Puigdemont fled Spain to avoid prosecution, his fellow lead­ers were put on trial and on the day their sentence was handed down in October 2019, thou­sands of activists blocked ac­cess to Barcelona airport for several hours.