Three MPs from Denmark have this Friday visited Jordi Cuixart and former Catalan foreign minister Raül Romeva in Lledoners prison. Upon leaving, Pelle Dragsted, Red-Green Alliance spokesperson for democratic affairs, denounced the "danger" of a state "resolving political problems by imprisoning its adversaries".
"Other countries could do the same, so this isn't a problem for Spain, it's a European matter," he said. Dragsted was accompanied on the visit by Eva Flyvholm, foreign affairs spokesperson for the same party, and Magni Arge, MP for the Faroe Islands.
Outside Lledoners prison, Dragsted said that the pro-independence leaders appeared "strong", but also "aware of their situation and worried about the trial". He explained the purpose of their visit was to give them "support" and, at the same time, to communicate what they've seen in their country.
The democratic affairs spokesperson insisted on the need to not ignore the situation in Catalonia given the precedent the political prisoners could imply for Europe, denouncing the fact that, as he sees it, they're facing a "political trial". "They're not delinquents and it's shocking that we should visit them in a prison, we should have to visit them in the Parliament where the Catalan people decided they should be," he said.
"Brutal and unacceptable"
The Danish MP noted that some of them had been in Catalonia for the day of the referendum last year, acting as international monitors, meaning they know the charges against them "are lies". "We were witnesses to the way the population wanted to vote peacefully, so the charges of rebellion are absurd". According to Dragsted, the only violence that day was from the police, violence he described as "brutal and unacceptable". "If there were real justice in this country it should be the police and those responsible for those actions who are in prison".
The MPs had yesterday visited the former speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Carme Forcadell, in Mas d'Enric prison. This Friday morning, they also met with Cuixart's deputy, vice-president of Òmnium Cultural, Marcel Mauri.
The deputies are also looking into acting as international observers during the upcoming trial. This would see them join a group of MEPs who announced this week they will ask the Spanish state to allow them to attend the trial. "We'd like to be able to do so to show [the imprisoned leaders] that they're not alone, but also so that Spain knows that it cannot act like this and that Europe is watching it," Dragsted said.