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The Basque country's lehendakari (or president) Iñigo Urkullu, who is on holiday, has held a meeting with jailed Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, at the Lledoners penitentiary in central Catalonia. According to sources close to the Basque government, Urkullu described Junqueras as "serene, despite the circumstances arising from having been imprisoned for nine months and the judicial process."

The lehendakari stated that Junqueras is "very aware of the situation," and that he is "interested in what is best for his family and political environment, as well as for the whole of Catalan society."

As well, the Basque government said that Urkullu's visit was "private" and motivated by "humanitarian" reasons, and recalled that Urkullu has always had close relationships with Catalan politicians.

Barcelona mayor, Ada Colau, was to visit Oriol Junqueras on Wednesday at the jail, on an institutional visit.

Oriol Junqueras was remanded in preventive custody by a Spanish judge on 2nd November last year, and has been in prison ever since, one of nine pro-independence Catalan leaders who have been held in pre-trial prison for periods as long as ten months, on charges relating to the independence campaign and the October 2017 referendum.