Jailed leaders register as MPs and senator in Spanish parliament

The jailed pro-independence leaders who were elected MPs and senator in the April 28 Spanish election arrived in parliament to register as representatives on Monday at around 10am.

The Spanish police escorted them from the Soto del Real prison, in the Madrid region, to the congress and senate.

The leader of the Esquerra party, Oriol Junqueras, was among the jailed leaders arriving at the congress, as well as Junts per Catalunya’s Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Jordi Sànchez.

Meanwhile, Junqueras’ party colleague, Raül Romeva, arrived at the senate as the official who got the most votes in the Barcelona constituency.

“I am fine now”

Afterwards they were all expected to be driven straight back to their cells, with no permission to hold meetings or talk to the press.

Yet while at the congress, Junqueras made a short statement posted on his party’s Twitter account.

“I am fine now, because I am surrounded by friends and colleagues, it is an extraordinary privilege” he said. He also sent a message to the newly elected Esquerra MPs and senators: “When I see you on TV that there are 15, or 28, of you, I feel infinite pride, and what is needed is to win this Sunday and lead the country to freedom.”

Jordi Sànchez, a pro-independence activist who successfully stood for Puigdemont's Junts per Catalunya party from prison, spoke of his pride in a video from parliament posted online.

"I am here with the aim of continuing to serve all the people who went out to vote on October 1, who expressed, in a dignified, peaceful and democratic manner, their desire to be free," Sànchez said, in reference to the referendum on independence carried out unilaterally in 2017.