Catalonia's Puigdemont calls prison sentences for separatist leaders "repression and revenge"

Record ID: 1436617

  • Title: Catalonia's Puigdemont calls prison sentences for separatist leaders "repression and revenge"
  • Date: 14th October 2019
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 14, 2019) (REUTERS) FORMER CATALAN PRESIDENT CARLES PUIGDEMONT ARRIVING TO DELIVER STATEMENT PUIGDEMONT STEPPING ON PODIUM SIGN READING (Catalan, English): "GOVERNMENT OF CATALONIA, DELEGATION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION" (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER PRESIDENT OF CATALONIA, CARLES PUIGDEMONT, SAYING: "The sentence of the Supreme Court (of Spain) against the members of the government, the parliament and the most important social entities of Catalonia, confirms the strategy of repression and revenge against all those citizens who have sought the path of democracy to make their will possible. By condemning them, they condemn more than two million people who made possible the self-determination referendum of October 1." AUDIENCE APPLAUDING
  • Embargoed: 28th October 2019 17:01
  • Keywords: Catalan Carles Puigdemont Brussels Spain Catalonia Supreme Court jail sentences
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B12MAFB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The former head of Catalonia's regional government Carles Puigdemont said on Monday (October 14) that the prison sentences for the separatist leaders on trial for a failed 2017 independence bid showed a "strategy of repression and revenge."
    Puigdemont was speaking after Spain's Supreme Court jailed nine Catalan separatist leaders for between nine and 13 years for their role in a failed independence bid, a decision that triggered protests in the region and left the future course of the dispute uncertain.
    The court also issued a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont, who was regional leader during its independence bid. He now lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium. In July 2018, the Spanish court dropped a warrant after Germany refused to extradite him.
    The ex-leader of the region did not take questions after delivering his statements on the prison sentences and did not comment on the extradition request.
    A handful of protesters were waiving signs reading "Spanish justice is the shame of Europe" and "Spain is a fascist state", while a man was holding a Spanish flag.
    In another area of Brussels, another small group of protesters wrapped in Catalan flags gathered outside the Spanish embassy, singing Catalan songs.
    (Production: Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf, Bart Biesemans, Hortense de Roffignac)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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