Catalan separatists, including the region's deposed vice-president, arrived in two Madrid courts on Thursday for questioning but former leader Carles Puigdemont was conspicuously absent.

Of the 14 members of the deposed Catalan government summoned for questioning, five were absent including Puigdemont, who has fled to Belgium. 

His deputy Oriol Junqueras was the first to arrive, followed by eight other former regional ministers, due to be questioned over the Catalan independence drive