News / EU

Thousands of Catalans call for release of jailed independence leaders

Saturday, 17 February 2018 8:52 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 17 February 2018 9:25 AM ]

A screenshot showing Catalans taking part in a protest in Barcelona City on February 17, 2018 to demand the release of jailed Catalan independence leaders.

Thousands of protesters have marched in Catalonia’s main city of Barcelona, calling on Spain’s central government to release the pro-independence leaders of the autonomous region.

The independence supporters gathered in city center on Friday to censure Madrid for keeping Catalonia’s politicians, including Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart, leaders of two grassroots separatist groups who were arrested in the aftermath of the region’s October 2017 secession referendum.

The protesters carried banners reading “Free political prisoners!” and observed four minutes of silence to show their solidarity with the jailed Catalan leaders.

President of the Catalan Parliament, Roger Torrent, also took part in the rally.

During the event, Albano Dante Fachin, a former member of Podemos Party, condemned the detention of the Catalan leaders.

“The dialogue is impossible while people are still in prison, there isn't a sincere dialogue, there is no dialogue between equals while we have Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Sanchez, Oriol Junqueras and Joaquim Forn in prison, you have to understand, and you have to understand because the next one is you,” he said.

Catalonia declared independence following the October referendum. That declaration prompted a major crackdown by the Spanish government as it took control of institutions and dismantled the regional government.

Spain has branded the entire process of seeking independence in Catalonia illegal.

Senior leaders of the independence drive were arrested on charges of rebellion and sedition while arrest warrants were issued for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his cabinet members, who have fled to Belgium.

However, the leaders caught in the crackdown managed to keep their majority in Catalonia’s parliament in snap elections in December.

Their lawyers now argue that Spain should set them free so that they can perform their political duties.

Earlier this month, three jailed leaders, including Sanchez, Cuixart and Oriol Junqueras, said they would take their cases to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to protest their imprisonments, which they said were hampering their political activities.

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