Four detained Catalan politicians, who were accused of illegally organizing their region's October 2017 independence referendum, have ended their 20-day hunger strike, the politicians' spokeswoman, Pilar Calvo, said on Thursday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th December, 2018) Four detained Catalan politicians, who were accused of illegally organizing their region's October 2017 independence referendum, have ended their 20-day hunger strike, the politicians' spokeswoman, Pilar Calvo, said on Thursday.During a press conference, Pilar Calvo read the detainees' statement where they announced an end to their hunger strike after 20 days, claiming that they had achieved their goal their petitions were now being considered by the Constitutional Court.
"[Their] health condition is good. Today they will be transported to the hospital where their health will be closely monitored. They have lost 10-11 percent of their weight," Calvo added.
Puigdemont has said, commenting on the issue, that the four detainees have achieved their goal.
"I am very pleased that four of my comrades, my friends, that started the hunger strike many days ago, heard our call, a call that many people supported. We did it in humanitarian considerations. The goal for which they resorted to such extreme measure as hunger strike, was achieved," Puigdemont said to the journalists in Geneva.
On December 1, Jordi Sanchez, the former leader of the pro-independence Catalan National Assembly (ANC), and Jordi Turull, a former member of Catalan ex-President Carles Puigdemont's cabinet, announced that they had started a hunger strike. They justified their intention by accusing the Constitutional Court of preventing them from applying to the European Court of Human Rights.
Two days later, former Interior Minister Joachim Forn and former Minister of Territory and Sustainability Josep Rull also joined the hunger strike.
Catalan prosecutors announced recommended sentences for the Catalan politicians in November. The longest sentence of 25 years may be given to the leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia political party, Oriol Junqueras. Five members of Puigdemont's former government may be sentenced 16 years, while the former chief of Catalonia's regional police, Josep Trapero, may be sentenced 11 years.
