'We won't give up until you're home,' says Catalan president to jailed leaders

Quim Torra and parliament speaker Roger Torrent denounce months of incarceration 700km far from home as "shame for all democrats in Europe"

 

MPs of the majority of Catalan parties, including speaker Torrent, President Torra and some ministers outside the Parliament on June 4, 2018 (by Bernat Vilaró)
MPs of the majority of Catalan parties, including speaker Torrent, President Torra and some ministers outside the Parliament on June 4, 2018 (by Bernat Vilaró) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

July 4, 2018 02:06 PM

The transferal of jailed leaders from Madrid to prisons in Catalonia, closer to their families, is not enough. This was the reaction of the Catalan president, Quim Torra, and parliament speaker, Roger Torrent, shortly after the first politicians and activists arrived in Catalan penitentiary centers on Wednesday. "We won't give up until you're home," said Torra to the nine leaders in a joint official statement supported by the government, the majority of Catalan parties and some social entities.

"Today the distancing is over, but not the injustice or the abomination of having peaceful, honorable democrats locked up," he claimed. For him, these months of incarceration 700km far from their homes have been "a shame for all democrats in Catalonia, Spain and Europe." He also described the circumstances as "an intolerable outrage, an extra punishment for families."