Prisoner transfer hands ‘moral victories’ to pro-independence camp, says PP

In transferring jailed pro-independence leaders to prisons in Catalonia, the Spanish government is handing “moral victories” to the supporters of secession, said a senior member of the People's Party (PP) on Wednesday. The Spanish authorities this week began relocating the political leaders awaiting trial for their part in the push for independence last year to Catalan prisons so they can be closer to their families.

PP’s Andrea Levy warned the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, whose successful motion of no confidence saw the PP government that jailed the officials ousted from power last month, that he should not “mistake” who his allies are in defending the interests of Spain, and should avoid going “hand in hand with the independence supporters.” Levy went on to say that Sánchez should ally with the unionist PP and Cs parties in the Spanish congress.

Yet, the Spanish government’s delegate to Catalonia, Teresa Cunillera, defended the decision, saying that the Sánchez executive had complied “with the law” and its “obligation” to move the prisoners. Cunillera also said that Monday’s meeting between Sánchez and Catalan president Quim Torra showed a willingness to find common ground. “We will not convince each other on issues beyond ideology, but we must look for spheres of agreement,” she said.

As for the pro-independence camp, the far-left CUP party welcomed the relocation of the prisoners and gave its support to the protests called outside the Catalan prisons to demand the release of the jailed political leaders. In a statement, CUP demanded the prisoners be released and the officials abroad be allowed to return, while it also described the transfer of the prisoners as an “act of justice taken into account by Spanish law.”

However, a senior MEP from the pro-independence Esquerra party (ERC) said he thought it was “terrible” that the Catalan government should have to keep “its own colleagues” in prison. In a news conference in Strasbourg, Josep-Maria Terricabras regretted that “we will be the jailers of our own innocent people,” and said that while transferring the prisoners to Catalonia was a gesture that helped the families, what was actually needed was “the release of the prisoners.”