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MADRID (Reuters) - The detention of Catalan activists on Monday, the first imprisonment of senior secessionist figures since the region’s Oct. 1 banned referendum on independence, was a judicial, not a political, matter, Spain’s justice minister said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the court ordered that the heads of the pro-independence groups Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium be held without bail pending an investigation for alleged sedition.

“These are not political prisoners because yesterday’s prison ruling was due to a crime (that was committed),” Justice Minister Rafael Catala said at an event in Madrid.