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Catalan president Quim Torra this Monday made three separate visits to prisons in the Madrid area, to visit six of the Catalan pro-independence political and civic leaders who have been held on remand for periods of up to seven months. Having visited nominated ministers Jordi Turull and Josep Rull in the morning at the Estremera jail, he then travelled to Alcalá-Meco prison to visit former parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell and ex-minister Dolors Bassa, before concluding his day of visits to the Catalan political prisoners with a visit at a third Madrid penitentiary, that of Soto del Real. Outside this prison, where pro-independence civil group leaders Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart have been held on remand for the last seven months, the Catalan president explained that the two men asked him to "never renounce Catalonia's right to self-determination". "They are here because of that, that is what they are fighting for" said the president, very emotionally moved, adding that he had just left "two friends" who he would visit "as often as he could".

"They speak to me about peace, they tell me to pass on to the people of Catalonia that they are defending the dignity of the people of Catalonia in the prisons", said Torra. "I am very touched to think that many Catalans see the strength that they are maintaining in their very difficult situation. And for the third time today, as I have done after my previous two prison visits, I ask the government of the state and the opposition parties to sit down and negotiate," commented the president.

The head of the Catalan executive was, however, highly critical of the situation of imprisonment on remand. "Seven months without seeing their children or only seeing them in absolutely unbelievable circumstances. Jordi Cuixart's son is one year old and his father has been in prison for seven months. And they have not even been tried. And to me this is infuriating, aberrant. It must not happen. And when I get angry, they, by contrast, tell me to speak about dialogue. They are people of culture, people of freedom, people who have fought for the civil rights of everybody" said Torra. Sànchez and Cuixart are accused by the Supreme Court of rebellion in relation to the independence referendum and campaign.

Earlier on Monday afternoon president Torra had travelled to the prison of Alcalá-Meco to visit the former speaker of the Catalan Parliament Carme Forcadell and former health minister Dolors Bassa. “I have just left two extraordinary and brave women, speaker Forcadell and minister Bassa. They tell us that they will keep hanging on if we can hold on. They feel they are hostages of Spanish justice," said Torra after leaving Alcalá-Meco.

Forcadell and Bassa sent identical messages via Twitter expressing their gratitude to Torra for making it "one of his first acts to visit us in Alcalá-Meco prison". On the other hand, they also told the new president that they would have liked "a government with parity between the sexes".

On Monday morning, the Catalan had visited the ministers nominated for the new Catalan government, Jordi Turull and Josep Rull, in another prison near Madrid, Estremera. Here, Torra affirmed his intention of appointing the two men to ministerial posts as planned, although the Spanish government has avoided publishing the names of the nominated government members in the official Catalan government gazette. "We are waiting for them", Torra told the press as he left the penitentiary. The president added that Rull and Turull had accepted the responsibility and they were hoping to be in Barcelona, on Wednesday for the swearing in of the government.

"The nominated ministers asked me to mention that their wish is to take up the ministerial positions", the president explained. This is a significant statement, according to Catalan MP Francesc de Dalmasses, as for the two imprisoned politicians to be officially confirmed in their functions, it is sufficient for them to accept the posts in Torra's presence, just as occurred this morning. For this reason, the head of the Catalan executive said that the ministers would ask the judge hearing their case, Pablo Llarena, to free them from prison - a request which, nevertheless, they do not expect to be granted, given the precedents.

Torra, who said that he felt "deeply affected" by the imprisonment on remand of the politicians, denounced that in other countries the situation would not be the same, and predicted that the Catalan politicians would no longer be accused of offences that were "without foundation" once judges in Germany and Belgium had made decisions in a contrary direction, with respect to Carles Puigdemont and the other exiled ministers. Despite everything, he explained that Rull and Turull felt "strong" and did not want the citizenship "to cry for them", but rather to demand their release. "We have conveyed all the courage of the people of Catalonia to them", said Torra, after the encounter. 

Translation: Honoured to receive the visit of the Right Honourable President Quim Torra. We met him with the maximum dignity, in formal dress and ministerial insignia. Our political rights remain intact and we are demanding our freedom to exercise the responsibility which he has entrusted us with and which we accept. - Josep Rull

After his visit to the two nominated Catalan ministers, the president had again asked Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy to engage in dialogue - a call he repeated three times on Monday, as he emerged from three different prisons. The Spanish government has not yet answered the letter Torra sent him last Friday, in which he asked for a meeting with the Spanish leader. "I am asking the central government and the opposition parties for politics to be returned to the political sphere", said Torra. "Mr Rajoy, Mr Sánchez, let's sit down and talk," he said, referring to the Spanish PM, and the leader of the opposition, Spanish Socialist (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez.