Dilma Rousseff, former president of Brazil, has said in a press conference in Strasbourg that she defends the "right of regions to self-determination" as long as it's done "democratically" and also criticised the imprisonment of members of the Catalan government.
The former president said that imprisoning political leaders "isn't a good idea" because "it leads nowhere" and, what's more, violates "their right to freedom". Rousseff said that the fact that there are political prisoners in Spain "doesn't change opinions" and noted that she was a "political prisoner" herself for three years. However, she said that "what's happening in Catalonia is not comparable", although she recognised that the Catalan question "is very complex".
Rousseff highlighted that processes like the one Catalonia is going though "are not easy". She also said that on the American continent "there isn't this type of problem", so she's not "very familiar" with them. Despite having said she didn't want to "interfere" in Catalonia, she reminded that "in the case of Kosovo, the EU accepted its right to become independent, [its right] to self-determination".