Upon his return to Belgium, where he had previously been seeking refuge from the Spanish justice system alongside some members of the former government, ex-president Carles Puigdemont took part in an event in Waterloo to show support for the jailed pro-independence leaders. Some of them have been behind bars in preventive detention for over nine months now.

Although the event on Saturday was in part celebration of the fact the ex-president had travelled to Belgium, something that only weeks ago had been impossible, the main theme was the calling for the release of the imprisoned Catalan leaders.

“Symbolically important”

Several hundred supporters showed up to Waterloo in the afternoon, for which Puigdemont expressed his gratitude highlighting the challenge of travelling such a distance whilst there are “strikes and holidays.”

“Today is a symbolically important day,” he said, referring to his return to Belgium. “But it is also charged with opposing feelings,” he added, recalling those who remain locked up. Until recently, the former head of the Catalan government, with a Spanish-issued European arrest warrant hanging over his head, had been unable to leave Germany while a decision on his extradition case was being made.

The German court in Schleswig-Holstein decided to accept the extradition request against him, but only for misuse of funds and not rebellion, which can carry up to 30 years in prison. Spain’s Supreme Court subsequently withdrew the European arrest warrant against Puigdemont and all other pro-independence leaders abroad. Those in jail for their roles in Catalonia’s push for independence last year, however, remain under lock and key. The Spanish court has denied various requests for their freedom.

“An inexcusable duty”

Puigdemont called for the “immediate” release of the jailed leaders. In a speech made from the balcony of the so-called ‘House of the Republic’ in the historic Belgian town, the ex-president said that the “political prisoners” should not “spend a single minute in jail.”

“The freedom we yearn for, for which we are fighting, begins to demand the freedom of the prisoners. It is an inexcusable duty,” he said at the event on Saturday afternoon. “It is not a matter of how long, short, easy, or complex the path, but there is a path and it has a good end,” he stated.

“Farce”

The current Catalan president Quim Torra, speaking from the same balcony with Puigdemont by his side, called the trial against the pro-independence leaders a “farce.” In his opinion, the fact that “exiled” Catalan politicians remain free justifies this. He also remarked that “the cause of independence is a just cause.”

“We have seen that in Europe, in a free Europe that judges freely and where there is a separation of powers, today our exiles are all here,” Torra said. He referred to those pro-independence leaders, like Carles Puigdemont himself, who had left the country following last October’s declaration of independence in order to seek refuge abroad from the Spanish justice system. Fears were shared that, should those abroad set foot in Spain or if they had never left, they would not receive a fair trial.

Voicing solidarity

Some of those who had played key parts in last year's bid for independence and had later sought refuge from Spanish justice abroad took part in the event, including members of the Puigdemont government such as Clara Ponsatí (who had been in Scotland,) Toní Comin and Meritxell Serret. Also among those present were representatives of the grassroots pro-independence organizations Catalan National Assembly (ANC,) Òmnium Cultural, La Plataforma per la Llengua, some members of the current Catalan government, the daughter of a jailed ex-politician, a legal representative for imprisoned leaders, amd Hip Hop MC Valtonyc (also wanted by the Spanish justice system.)

The British lawyer Ben Emmerson, representing jailed leaders Josep Rull, Raül Romeva, Dolors Bassa and Joaquim Forn, voiced his opinion on the situation, calling on the Spanish president to work for the release of the prisoners if he wants to achieve a political solution for Catalonia.

Anna Forn, the daughter of Joaquim Forn who, having given up politics, has repeatedly appealed to be released and repeatedly been denied, read a statement on behalf of the nine imprisoned pro-independence leaders. Regarding Puigdemont’s return to Belgium and the resolution of the German judges, they sent “warmth and satisfaction.”

“We are proud and strongly committed to the cause of the republic, very soon to be in Catalonia,” the note went.

The Mallorcan rapper Valtonyc, who also headed to Belgium to avoid going to prison, referred to Spain as a “dictatorship.” He had been sentence to jail over some of his song lyrics. “We cannot speak, we cannot sing, we cannot protest,” he said. “Today, I am the exiled, but tomorrow it could be you, a brother, a son, or a friend.”