CATALAN president Quim Torra has said his government will not accept any “unfair trial” or sentences that punish “innocent people” and that Catalonia’s nine political prisoners should be at the forefront of debate in the coming months.

His remarks came at a demonstration for former minister Jordi Turull, one of the detainees, in Josa del Cadi, north of Barcelona.

Torra said Turull, who is being held in Lledoners prison accused of rebellion and sedition for his part in the October referendum, would renounce nothing and would accept punishment at his trial.

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However, the president said: “We will not accept a sentence that punishes innocent people, good people, people we want to free, and people we want to free already.

“We will not accept sentences … or a ruling other than the filing of an unfair cause, and that is what I want to say with all solemnity and with all firmness, as well as that we will not accept an unfair trial, nor that this farce cause to continue. Remember the indecency that they are in jail.”

Torra said the cases of the political prisoners were about closing the “judicial farces” of their arrest and imprisonment, adding: “It is inconceivable that in Spain they still continue in jail.

“This should be the centrepiece of the debate over the coming months because it is impossible for our political prisoners to have a fair trial in Spain and we will not tolerate it.

“As president of Catalonia I cannot tolerate that Catalan democratic and honest politicians, who simply gave the voice to the people, are condemned by Spanish courts where we have seen that there is everything except justice.”

The National:

The demonstration came as reports emerged that Torra and former president Carles Puigdemont, who is in exile in Belgium, were preparing to launch a body called Council of the Republic next month. This proposal was part of an agreement between Puigdemont’s Together for Catalonia (JxCat) and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) after the failure of the unilateral declaration of independence in October.

It is aimed at wooing the left-wing Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) and promoting independence, both inside Catalonia and throughout Europe, along with the defence of civil and political rights.

Now free to travel anywhere in Europe except Spain, Puigdemont has been working on the policy from his new base in the Belgian city of Waterloo, with Torra pursuing it from the Catalan capital.

The seven-member group will be chaired by Puigdemont and will be tasked with defining how the politicians should approach the “constit-uent process” that was agreed last October to pursue independence based on the will of the Catalan people.

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Politically, Torra needs support to push his budgets through parliament and, in an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ANC), said he was prepared to stand down as president if he was unable to succeed.

The council’s timing could be affected by the trials of the political prisoners which are due to start later in the year.

Torra said: “It is a topic that has been talked about little. We must all be aware from now that if we intend to achieve independence, we will need all the strength and courage, and do better things than last October.”