Junqueras: 'I'm being accused for my ideas and I see myself as a political prisoner'

"I see myself as a political prisoner," was how the jailed former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras began his testimony in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

"I'm convinced that I'm being accused for my ideas and not for my actions," he added, as the trial of Catalan independence leaders continued in Madrid.

The third day of the trial of 12 politicians and activists charged over the 2017 independence bid came after defense teams and prosecutors laid out their arguments on the two previous days.

Oriol Junqueras is the most senior political figure to face trial in the Supreme Court. He was the Catalan vice president and the finance minister at the time of the referendum, as well as the main independence leader along with then-president Carles Puigdemont.

While Puigdemont left the country following Madrid’s takeover of Catalan institutions, Junqueras stayed and was subsequently incarcerated on November 2, 2017 and has so far spent 469 days in custody.