Barcelona mayor stands up for families of jailed leaders

The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, received this Wednseday, the families of the four jailed Catalan leaders. The imprisonment of the deposed vice-president Oriol Junqueras, the Home Affairs Minister, Joaquim Forn, the grassroots leader Jordi Cuixart, and the Junts per Catalunya MP Jordi Sànchez, is “an unacceptable double punishment,” Colau stated.

The fact that they are maintained in preventive prison “obliges” the families to travel “thousands of miles every week” to see them.

The Catalan Socialists (PSC) party was absent from the act, resulting in numerous reproaches. Colau asserted that this is “a question of society and not only the political parties.”

The wife of Forn, Laura Masvidal, stated that she regretted the absence of the Socialists, criticizing them for aiming at “destroying” democratic values that “cost  so much to construct.”

The leader of Esquerra Republicana (ERC) in the Barcelona Council, Alfred Bosch, also had his say. “Ethics should go before politics,” he said, calling on parties to unite against the imprisonment of the jailed leaders.

Despite their absence, sources close to PSC stated that the party shares solidarity with the families of the prisoners, but Wednesday’s event had a political motive that they do not support. In fact, the head of PSC, Miquel Iceta, alongside Jaume Collboni, have already met with all affected families that requested to do so.

For his part, the deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Asens, deemed the imprisonment as an “unbearable punishment.”

Catalonia’s vice president Oriol Junqueras and Home Affairs minister Joaquim Forn entered jail on November 2. Together for Catalonia leader Jordi Sànchez and Òmnium Cultural grassroots organization president Jordi Cuixart were incarcerated on October 16. They all face criminal charges that carry prison sentences of up to 30 years.