Spanish minister walks out of Holocaust memorial over 'political prisoners' remark

Spain's justice minister walked out in protest from a service commemorating the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp on Sunday when one of her Catalan counterparts described jailed pro-independence leaders as "political prisoners".

Dolores Delgado, a former public prosecutor, briefly left the stage at the camp, after Gemma Domènech, the director of the 'Democratic Memory' project in the Catalan justice ministry, used the term in reference to ousted foreign minister Raül Romeva, whom she praised for taking part in the ceremony two years ago.

In her speech, Domènech noted that of the 730 days since the unveiling of a plaque honoring the victims of the Mauthausen camp, Romeva – accused of rebellion and sedition in relation to the independence drive – has spent more than half in prison.