Jailed Catalan Leader Sees Parliament Mandate As Win For Ballot Box

Barcelona, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st May, 2019 ) :Former Catalan vice-president Oriol Junqueras has been in jail for more than 18 months but on Tuesday he will be temporarily released, and sworn in as a Spanish lawmaker.

The head of Catalan separatist party ERC is one of five Catalan leaders on trial for their roles in an October 2017 Catalonian secession bid who were elected deputies in Spain's April 28 general election.

Four won seats in the lower house of parliament and one was elected to the Senate.

"They want to silence and marginalise us, and the ballot box has given our voice back. We defeated repression through the power of voting," Junqueras, 50, told AFP in a written interview from prison.

He is the main protagonist in the trial that opened in February at Spain's Supreme Court in Madrid of 12 Catalan leaders accused of rebellion and other charges in connection with a banned independence referendum held on October 1, 2017 that was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

Junqueras, a lifelong supporter of independence, could face 25 years in prison if convicted.

"The fact that we are political prisoners in detention is a great anomaly. For what reason? for having staged a referendum. This is our crime, setting up ballot boxes and voting," he said.

Junqueras seems as determined as when he was jailed in November 2017 after choosing to remain in Spain rather than flee abroad following the failed declaration of independence.

"It is obvious that we will not renounce independence or the right to self-determination," he said.