Council of Europe official visits jailed independence leaders and Catalan parliament

It has been a busy few days for Latvian Socialist Boriss Cilevičs, who during his visit to Catalonia has seen the jailed independence leaders, met with Ombudsman Rafael Ribó, and spoken with speaker Roger Torrent and different members of the Catalan parliament.

Cilevičs is heading the Council of Europe's report on political prisoners in Europe, after a score of council deputies proposed the initiative in January. When complete, the report will go before the council's Parliamentary Assembly for debate and approval.

Wednesday afternoon saw Cilevičs at Lledoners prison to meet with some of the Catalan leaders jailed for their role in the 2017 independence bid. The official spent a few hours at the prison, before moving on to a meeting with the Catalan Ombudsman, Rafel Ribó.

On Thursday, Cilevičs visited the Catalan parliament, where he met with speaker Roger Torrent, before going on to speak with a number of representatives from different political parties in the chamber.

Leading member of the ERC pro-independence party Ernest Maragall described his time with the Council of Europe representative as a "relevant meeting" and described the fact that it had taken place as "significant."

The Cs and PPC unionist parties handed Cilevičs documents. Cs gave the official a document with the party's evaluation of the trial of the Catalan politicians, while PPC handed him high court resolutions against Catalan legislation aimed at facilitating the referendum.

Also during his visit, lasting from Monday to Thursday, Cilevičs is scheduled to meet with representatives of the Catalan and Spanish governments.