Catalan MEP regrets EU 'silence' over jailed leaders after bloc demands Turkey release Kurdish prisoner

The European Union has demanded that Turkey comply with a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and free the jailed Kurdish opposition politician, Selahattin Demirtaş.

The case has sparked a lot of interest in Catalonia due to the situation of the political leaders in custody awaiting trial over their involvement in last year's independence bid.

Catalan MEP for the Esquerra party (ERC), Jordi Solé, called on EU institutions not to "wait in silence" for a future ECHR ruling on the jailed pro-independence leaders, a case he insisted was "similar" to that of the Kurdish politician.

In fact, at the end of November, the lawyers for three of the leaders in prison incorporated the court's ruling condemning Turkey for keeping Demirtaş in custody into the defense strategies of their clients.