Jailed independence leaders make their first return to Catalonia’s parliament

THE FORMER vice-president of Catalonia returned as a prisoner to the regional parliament in Barcelona, the first time he had been there since he was imprisoned for his role in the failed 2017 secession bid from Spain.

Oriol Junqueras and five other former Cabinet members released from prison for the occasion were greeted with applause and cheers of “Liberty!” by a small crowd of supporters.

They were not handcuffed, and no uniformed guards were escorting them, although there were police deployed outside.

Regional president Quim Torra

and the speaker of the house greeted them with hugs and warm handshakes on arrival.

This is the first time that the six have returned to the Catalan parliament since they were taken into custody following the failed October 2017 independence bid.

They and three more colleagues were convicted of sedition and misuse of public funds in October by Spain’s Supreme Court and given sentences of nine to 13 years.

They are serving their sentences in prisons in Catalonia.

They were summoned to the regional parliament to attend a committee session addressing the consequences of the central authorities’ temporary takeover of the region’s control at the height of the 2017 crisis.

“I want to begin by saying that I am very happy to be back in the parliament and to be able to talk to all of you,” Mr Junqueras told the commission. “I am very happy because I love the parliament and love democracy and love dialogue.”

Mr Junqueras then used most of this half-hour appearance to insist that he and his colleagues are unjustly imprisoned and that the solution to the political crisis provoked by the separatist movement is dialogue with Spain’s central government and unionist parties.

Lorena Roldan, the leader of the pro-union Citizens party in the Catalan parliament, responded by asking him to “ask forgiveness” for the secession attempt.