Catalan ministers ask to be released
Three ministers claim to abide by Article 155, while vice president Junqueras says the government has not acted after being dismissed
The Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, deposed by the Spanish government following a declaration of independence and subsequently imprisoned along seven other ministers, demanded to be released. He did so on Tuesday alleging that the Catalan government did not continue to act after Madrid triggered Article 155 to suspend self-rule in the region. Unlike three ministers who also appealed for their release in the last couple of days, Junqueras did not explicitly state whether he abides by Article 155.
“The Catalan government has not met since it was dismissed, no decisions have been made and nothing has been published in the Catalan Government Official Bulletin that proves any executive action after the plenary session on October 27,” Junqueras’ lawyers say, and add that “there seems to be no scenario” in which the defendants have continued to break the law after they were dismissed.