<span style="color: #222222;">Spain's parliament today suspended the mandates of four Catalan lawmakers who were elected while in custody and on trial over their role in the failed 2017 separatist bid.<br />''  <br />'' The expected move could reduce the threshold of an absolute majority that acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez needs in the congress, or lower house,  to be sworn in for a second term.<br />'' <br />'' Parliament speaker Meritxell Batet told a news conference in Madris that the mandates of Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Jordi Sanchez were automatically suspended because they are being held in custody while on trial in the Supreme Court.<br />'' <br />''</span>''<ol>''<li><span style="color: #222222;"> The four men have been charged with rebellion for organising a banned independence referendum which was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence, sparking Spain's worst political crisis in decades.</span></li></ol><span style="color: #222222;"> <br />'' </span><br />