They've come back, but only for a matter of hours. To loud applause and chants of "Liberty!", six of the Catalan political prisoners, all of them former cabinet ministers, have entered the Parliament of Catalonia this morning to testify before its Commission on Article 155.

The imprisoned Dolors Bassa, labour minister in 2017, was the first to arrive at the Parliament to appear before the commission investigating the effects of the suppression of Catalonia's self-government. She was followed by jailed vice president Oriol Junqueras and the ministers Joaquim Forn, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Raül Romeva, who arrived from Lledoners prison shortly afterwards, and were received by the current Catalan president Quim Torra, and parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent.