The reprisals against Jordi Sànchez for having recorded comments for a Junts per Catalunya meeting whilst he was a candidate for the party during the campaign for last year's Catalan election have come into focus again today after the former Catalan National Assembly president tweeted details of the punishment prison leadership have given him.
He says that, as well as being moved to a different wing of the prison and being banned from communicating with Núria Guillaumes, who recorded the message, for six months, he is currently being locked in his "tiny cell" for 18 hours a day for a month. Guillaumes was a fellow candidate for Junts per Catalunya.
The tweet ends up the hashtag llibertat ("freedom") and an image by Chinese artist Xu Beihong, famous for his pictures of galloping horses, representing vitality despite his country's social and political instability.
El càstig per les meves paraules en la campanya del 21D, gravades per telèfon: (1) 6 mesos d'incomunicació amb @ISerNuri, (2) canvi de mòdul, (3) ara durant un mes 18 h diàries tancat a l'esquifida cel·la #llibertat pic.twitter.com/pRHl6qOWr6
— Jordi Sànchez (@jordialapreso) 24 de abril de 2018
In the recording, Sànchez said that the "political adversary" in the 21st December election wasn't an opposition candidate like Inés Arrimadas (Cs), Miquel Iceta (PSC) or Xavier García Albiol (PP), but Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy.
Following the remarks, he was moved from wing 1 to wing 8 in Soto del Real prison, something which his lawyer, Jordi Pina, said was a "shock" for him. He was also assigned a guard to follow him 24 hours a day.