Catalonia's former vice president Oriol Junqueras, who is being held in prison, demanded on Tuesday that the top Spanish court order his release, according to his lawyer
MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th December, 2019) Catalonia's former vice president Oriol Junqueras, who is being held in prison, demanded on Tuesday that the top Spanish court order his release, according to his lawyer.The EU Court of Justice ruled last week that Junqueras, who was elected to serve as a member of the European Parliament in May while in prison, was entitled to immunity to take up his seat.
Andreu Van den Eynde, Junqueras' defense attorney, sent a petition to Spain's Supreme Court invoking the EU court's order as a premise for dropping sedition charges passed in October.
The lawyer told the court in Madrid that his defendant should be released immediately so that he could travel to France to receive his EU lawmaker ID in Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament.
Junqueras was given 13 years in prison for his role in organizing an independence vote in Catalonia in 2017. The simultaneous conviction of nine former Catalan leaders triggered violent protests in the Spanish autonomous community.
