Parties from across Spain call for release of Catalan leaders

Political parties from Catalonia, the Basque Country, Galicia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands in favour of self-determination have signed a political declaration announcing "the need to reach a political agreement" at the state level that recognizes the right to hold a referendum on independence, to free prisoners, and to allow the safe return of exiles.

Representatives of the various groups have signed what is called the Llotja de Mar Declaration, a text underlining "democratic backward steps" seen recently in Spain, and ultimately calls on the international community to "enable, support and promote solutions" to the conflict.

The text explains that it has been borne out of "the decision of the Spanish justice system to condemn the legitimate representatives of the people of Catalonia and the leaders of the social organizations that made the 2017 referendum possible, and for the serious restrictions that this ruling will have on political activity from now on.”

Signatories of the document regret that full democratization of the State has not been possible after 1978 "due to the resistance of the old structures of the previous regime."

The declaration states that the sentences given to the Catalan political and civic leaders “will have serious effects in the exercise of fundamental rights of all citizens, leaving them "seriously worried." 

The parties propose that Spain reaches “a political agreement" that recognizes the right of self-determination, the democratic and peaceful nature of the "political action" of these parties, freedom for the prisoners, and the safe return of exiles.