Three Catalan independence leaders being held in pre-trial detention have complained to a UN panel that their imprisonment breaks international law, their lawyer said on Thursday. The former deputy leader of the Catalan regional government and leaders of two separatist groups are accused of sedition for their bid to declare Catalonia independent from Spain. While other figures behind last year’s referendum and independence declaration – both acts declared illegal by Madrid – fled to Brussels, Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart were arrested and denied bail pending their trial. The case does not ask the panel to consider the issue of Catalan independence but seeks its affirmation that governments cannot repress political dissent through arbitrary detention, Emmerson said. But his gamble backfired when separatist parties won a majority, giving new impetus to the independence movement, led by Carles Puigdemont, who remains a fugitive from justice in Belgium.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 01, 2018 15:00 UTC