The court said it had decided to launch the probe after examining a statement by judge Manuel García-Castellón, which includes “evidence that, in his opinion, proves the participation of the two defendants in the events under investigation.”

“All I’m missing now is to be accused of having a secret account in Panama,” joked Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium, in reaction to the news. “The Spanish Judicial Matrix has adapted the maxim of bad journalism: Don’t let reality stand in the way of a good indictment.”

By opening the probe the Supreme Court justices chose to override their own prosecutors, who earlier this month rejected requests to indict Puigdemont on terrorism charges in relation to Democratic Tsunami, arguing there was “no factual basis” to the case linking the politician and the group.

The investigation also pits the court against Spain’s national government and its European partners.

At this month’s extraordinary European Council summit in Brussels, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected the premise of the case and declared that “the Catalan independence movement is not terrorism.”

Last week the Swiss judiciary also took the unusual step of halting its collaboration with its Spanish counterparts, expressing doubts over the legitimacy of the probe and raising concerns it could be a “political case.”