Junqueras' fellow inmates ask Supreme Court to let jailed leader act as MEP

Some 70 inmates in cell block 2 of Lledoners prison have sent a letter to Spain's Supreme Court asking that their fellow inmate, jailed Catalan independence leader Oriol Junqueras, be allowed to carry out his duties as a member of the European Parliament.

One of the inmates decided to gather the signatures in support of Junqueras, who was not allowed to take up his seat in Brussels because he is serving 13 years for sedition, and sent one copy to the Supreme Court and another to EU chamber speaker, David Sassoli.

In the letter, which the Catalan News Agency (ACN) has seen, some 70 of the 85 inmates in the cell block argue that democracy, universal suffrage, and the public's right to be represented by those who they elect must be respected.

Among the signatories are Junqueras' former government colleagues who were also jailed for their part in organizing the 2017 independence bid, although the former vice president and head of the pro-independence ERC party did not himself sign the letter. 

In a separate letter sent to ACN, the inmate behind the initiative said it is "logical" that Junqueras was not a signatory, and he added that those who were would like society in general to "emulate" their example and send their own letters to the Supreme Court.

Despite the European Court of Justice ruling that Junqueras had immunity from the MEP seat he won in May, and should have been allowed out of prison to take up his seat, the Supreme Court upheld its decision to deny the leader the chance to go to Brussels.