Catalan separatists on hunger strike speak out
The Associated Press
SANT JOAN DE VILATORRADA, SPAIN — Separatist politicians from Spain’s Catalonia region who are entering the third week of a prison hunger strike say their upcoming rebellion trial will give them a platform to peacefully promote the cause of Catalan independence.
In rare interviews conducted inside a prison north of Barcelona, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull repeated their calls for dialogue between Catalonia’s regional government and Spanish government authorities in Madrid. Turull has been in a prison medical ward since Friday.
Their trial, set to begin early next year, will be “a unique moment to denounce the attitude of the Kingdom of Spain contrary to the political and democratic rights in Catalonia,” Sanchez told The Associated Press.
“We are not going to let this opportunity go to waste,” he added.
The pair also rejected depictions of the secessionist movement in the prosperous northeastern region as violent.
Sanchez wore three layers of clothing even though the heating in the prison managed by Catalan government was working. The chill he feels results from not consuming calories, according to Sanchez’s doctor, who said the 54 year-old has lost more than 11 pounds since he began fasting on Dec. 1.
Spain says the 22 defendants in the case are being prosecuted not for their ideas but for defying court orders by holding a banned independence referendum in October 2017 and making an illegal attempt to secede.
Some of them have been indicted on charges of rebellion or sedition and face decades in prison in what local media have dubbed “the trial of the century” in Spain’s Supreme Court. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, although the defendants are not expected to appear in court until weeks later.