No political prisoners in Spain, says Madrid

The Spanish government backs the National Court’s decision on Monday to hold without bail Catalan secessionist leaders accused of sedition. Underlining the independence of the judiciary, spokespersons for both the executive and Spain’s ruling People’s Party (PP) dismiss allegations of pro-independence leaders being imprisoned for their political ideas as false.

“Nobody in Spain is in prison for thinking one thing or another, but because a judge says they have broken the law,” Spanish Home Affairs minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said on Tuesday. “The separation of powers is a basic pillar of democracy.”

The imprisonment of pro-independence leaders sparked widespread criticism from politicians across the spectrum, except for PP and its main unionist partner Ciutadans (Cs). Catalan president Carles Puigdemont commented on it via Twitter: “Spain jails Catalonia's civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again.”

"Political prisoners? Of course not," said Spanish Justice minister, Rafael Maria Català. "There might be imprisoned politicians, but not political prisoners because yesterday’s decision is based on the hypothetical crime of not allowing the police to do their job."