Jordi Sànchez has published a message through the Twitter handle @jordialapreso where he states that him and the MPs elected on December 21 will be up to the task at hand and will “carry out” the “mandate” of independence.

The pro-independence grassroots leader dictated the text from the Soto del Real prison in the Madrid area where he is being held, in which he says that him and his colleagues will defend Catalonia’s democracy, “holding high” the torch of European values. The tweet also ends with the hashtag “freedom.”

Indeed, on Wednesday, the Together for Catalonia (JxCat) parliamentary group presented the MP credentials of Sànchez, former president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and current second candidate for the pro-independence party. Along with Sànchez they also put forth the credentials of their number seven candidate, deposed Home Affairs minister Joaquim Forn, who is also still incarcerated. The two men are both being held in the Madrid region but in separate prisons.

The two incarcerated leaders also have a summons to the Spanish Supreme Court on January 11 to revisit their pre-trial detention. Their defense is to argue for their right to exercise political participation now that they’ve been elected as MPs in the Catalan parliament, and for them to be able to assist in the upcoming plenary sessions in the hemicycle.