Catalans in jail as campaigning begins

Political parties in Catalonia, including candidates either in jail or out of the country to avoid arrest, started campaigning yesterday for the early regional elections called by Spain’s Government seeking to quash the Catalan independence movement.

The highly polarised Catalan parliament elections set for December 21 is shaping up as a close fight between Catalans who support secession and those who favour remaining in Spain. Voters are choosing regional lawmakers and top government officials to replace the pro-independence officials removed by the national government in late October.

Hours before pro-secession parties held rallies to launch their campaigns, a Supreme Court judge in Madrid ruled that four prominent members of the region’s independence movement must remain jailed without bail. They include former regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras, who heads the slate of the left-republican ERC party. Junqueras was unseated in late October along with former President Carles Puigdemont and the rest of Puigdemont’s Cabinet after regional lawmakers passed a declaration of independence that Spanish authorities deemed illegal.

Six other Catalan politicians been jailed with Junqueras since early November were released after the posting of 100,000 ($171,980) bail. Meanwhile, Puigdemont and four of his separatist allies learned that a decision on Spain’s request for their extraditions from Belgium will be made on December 14.

That is one week before the elections, in which Puigdemont is leading his proindependence party’s ticket as its presidential candidate.— AP