'This has been a political trial' - defense lawyers condemn verdict

Several of the defense lawyers for the political leaders and activists convicted on Monday morning in the Catalan trial have expressed their reactions to the verdict. 

Andreu Van den Eynde, who was the defendant for Oriol Junqueras, sentenced to 13 years in jail, criticised that the crime of sedition "could not have been foreseen" in the "democratic environment" of Spain and condemned the Supreme Court for “creating this criminal code of dissidence."

The lawyer for Dolors Bassa, who was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, said that they did not even wait for the sentence. Bassa is said to have received it when she was on her way to prison.

Her defendant Mariano Bergès has said that the argument that these "crimes are that serious" is incredibly "scant" with regards to the severity of the sentence. "We did not expect neither sedition nor embezzlement, nor the crimes for which she was condemned, let alone the years of imprisonment."

Jordi Pina, lawyer for  Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Jordi Sánchez, sentenced to 12, 10 and a half and 9 years in jail respectively, was more resolute. He criticised the verdict as the culmination of a "political trial" which has "dangerous" implications for freedom of expression."

He stressed however that his clients had received the sentence "firmly and calmly." He underlined that his clients "are not defeated, but firmer and stronger than ever" despite the severity of the verdict.