Amnesty calls for immediate release of arrested pro-independence leaders

Amnesty International calls on Spanish authorities to drop the charges of sedition against imprisoned pro-independence leaders in Catalonia and to put “an immediate end” to their pre-trial detention. In a public statement released on Wednesday, Amnesty deems both sedition accusations and their preemptive arrest as “excessive”.

The presidents of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Jordi Sánchez, and Òmnium Cultural, Jordi Cuixart, were sent to jail on Monday pending a sedition trial at the Spanish National Court. As two outstanding figures of the Catalan independence process at the grassroots level, they are accused of leading protests to obstruct police operations against the October 1 referendum on independence.

“While summoning protestors with the purpose of obstructing a lawful police operation may be punishable as a minor offense,” their prosecution for a “serious crime such as sedition” and their detention “constitute excessive restrictions of their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly,” reads Amnesty’s public statement.