Town mayor joins jailed leaders' hunger strike

The mayor of Montblanc, in southwestern Catalonia, has announced he is joining the jailed leaders' hunger strike.

On Thursday morning, he said he will continue his daily agenda as long as he feels good and his body “endures.”

“I feel better with myself now, I wasn’t feeling good not going along with my colleagues in their hunger strike, so I did it out of conviction,” he claimed.

Andreu last ate food on Wednesday evening, and since then he has only been drinking infusions.

First member of Esquerra to join strike

The mayor of this medieval town became the first non-imprisoned official to take part in the protest. He’s also the only member of his Esquerra Republicana party, joining in the strike. Jailed party members Dolors Bassa, Raül Romeva, Oriol Junqueras and Carme Forcadell have not done so, so far.

On December 1, Junts per Catalunya’s jailed MPs Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Turull began their hunger strike, with the also incarcerated party colleagues Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull joining them, three days after.

With this protest, they want to protest against the Spanish Constitutional Court "blocking" their cases reaching the European justice.

Why they claim Spain 'blocks' case reaching European courts

The four jailed leaders claim that the Spanish Constitutional Court is "preventing" them from taking their cases to the international justice.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) only accepts for consideration cases which have gone through the whole national judicial path.

And in the pro-independence officials’ case, the highest court in Spain, the Constitutional Court, has accepted eight jailed leaders’ appeals for consideration, but has not taken a final decision on any. Until it does not have a final say on them, the prosecuted individuals will not be able to take their cases to the ECHR.