FILE PHOTO: Jordi Turull, a Catalan separatist leader, walks with his wife Blanca Bragulat after leaving Spain's Supreme Court in Madrid where he testified for an investigation into his role in Catalonia's bid for independence, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Susana Vera/File Photo

MADRID (Reuters) - Two more jailed Catalan separatist leaders awaiting trial for their role in the region’s failed bid to secede from Spain joined a hunger strike started two days ago by two of their companions to protest against their treatment by Spanish courts.

After Catalonia declared independence last year, Madrid took direct control of the region and brought charges including misuse of public funds and rebellion against Catalan leaders, nine of whom are in jail awaiting trial.

Two of the leaders in custody, Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn, released a statement saying they would join the hunger strike started on Saturday by Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull.

“We also voluntarily renounce food intake as of 8:00 p.m. on Monday,” the men said in a statement.

The men said they were fasting to support Sanchez and Turull’s protest against the failure of Spanish courts to process numerous appeals in relation to their cases. </s> Jordi Turull, former spokesman for the regional Catalan government of Carles Puigdemont, began a hunger strike on December 1 in Lledoners prison north of Barcelona.

Turull and other Catalan leaders are in custody pending a trial on charges ranging from sedition to rebellion after they attempted to break away from Spain in 2017 by staging a referendum.

Turull and another leader Jordi Sanchez began a hunger strike to protest what they said was a Constitutional Court block of their attempted appeal against their provisional detention.

"Though he is in stable condition, the time that has passed and his individual condition meant Jordi Turull needed to be transferred to the hospital," his doctor Jaume Padros wrote on Twitter. "There are no worrying signs, this is part of medical protocol," he wrote.

Turull and Sanchez are accused of rebellion for their part in the attempted breakaway of the Catalan region last year. The trial of the two men and other Catalan leaders is expected to begin in Spain's Supreme Court early next year. Two other jailed leaders also joined the hunger strike after Turull.

Current Catalan president Quim Torra has stepped up his separatist rhetoric after his own government was weakened by a wave of strikes by doctors and teachers and by protests by radical separatists. </s> Two more jailed Catalan separatist leaders awaiting trial for their role in the region's failed bid to secede from Spain joined a hunger strike started two days ago by two of their companions to protest against their treatment by Spanish courts. After Catalonia declared independence last year, Madrid took direct control of the region and brought charges including misuse of public funds and rebellion against Catalan leaders, nine of whom are in jail awaiting trial. Two of the leaders in custody, Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn, released a statement saying they would join the hunger strike started on Saturday by Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull. "We also voluntarily renounce food intake as of 8:00 p.m. on Monday," the men said in a statement. The men said they were fasting to support Sanchez and Turull's protest against the failure of Spanish courts to process numerous appeals in relation to their cases </s> FILE PHOTO: Catalan politicians Josep Rull (L) and Jordi Turull arrive together to the Supreme Court after being summoned and facing investigation for their part in Catalonia's bid for independence in Madrid, Spain, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Susana Vera FILE PHOTO: Catalan politicians Josep Rull (L) and Jordi Turull arrive together to the Supreme Court after being summoned and facing investigation for their part in Catalonia's bid for independence in Madrid, Spain, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Susana Vera

MADRID (Reuters) – Four jailed Catalan separatist leaders, incarcerated since October 2017 ahead of a trial for their involvement in a push by the region for independence, called off a hunger strike on Thursday, their spokeswoman said.

“Today, after 20 days since it began, we are ending our hunger strike,” the spokeswoman Pilar Calvo said reading a statement from the protesters, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Jordi Sanchez and Joaquim Forn. </s> BARCELONA, Spain — A spokeswoman for four jailed Catalan separatist leaders says they are abandoning their hunger strike more than two weeks after starting it because they consider that their protest has achieved its goals.

Speaking on behalf of the politicians, who are awaiting trial for their part in last year’s attempt to secede from Spain, Pilar Calvo said Thursday the strike has drawn attention to the separatists’ plight and prompted Spain’s Constitutional Court to review some of their appeals, which enables them to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Pro-independence activist-turned-politician Jordi Sanchez and former Catalan cabinet member Jordi Turull began their hunger strike on Dec. 1. Ex-regional ministers Josep Rull and Joaquim Forn joined two days later.

The Constitutional Court had said the appeals were following the normal judicial calendar.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Two jailed Catalan separatist leaders said Monday they would join a hunger strike their colleagues have already started as they await trial over Catalonia's failed independence bid, bringing the total refusing food to four.

Josep Rull, once in charge of infrastructure in the Spanish region's separatist executive, and former regional interior minister Joaquim Forn, were all set to refuse food in Catalonia's Lledoners prison, they said in a statement.

"We announce that we are joining the peaceful protest that our colleagues, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull, have already started," the statement read.

Sanchez, the former head of the influential grassroots ANC independence association, and Turull, a former regional minister, started their hunger strike on Saturday.

They accuse Spain's Constitutional Court of dragging its feet on their appeals against their situation, impeding them from going to the European Court of Human Rights.

The European court rules that a person has to have exhausted all possible appeals at home before taking his or her case to Strasbourg, where it is based.

"Neither our protest nor that of our colleagues is a hunger strike to ask for any treatment of favour or positive discrimination," Rull and Forn said in their statement.

"It is, simply, the only alternative we have here in jail to make the discrimination and violation of our fundamental rights more visible."

Spain's Supreme Court in October ordered a total of 18 former Catalan separatist leaders to stand trial over last year's declaration of independence.

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds over the failed secession bid.

The sensitive trial is expected to start in early 2019 and will focus on the attempt by Catalan leaders to break away from Spain in October 2017 by staging a referendum despite a court ban and subsequently proclaiming independence.

Nine separatists in all are in pre-trial detention. The seven at Lledoners prison have been held for between eight and 13 months without trial. </s> MADRID (Reuters) - Four jailed Catalan separatist leaders, incarcerated since October 2017 ahead of a trial for their involvement in a push by the region for independence, called off a hunger strike on Thursday, their spokeswoman said.

“Today, after 20 days since it began, we are ending our hunger strike,” the spokeswoman Pilar Calvo said reading a statement from the protesters, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Jordi Sanchez and Joaquim Forn. </s> MADRID: Two jailed Catalan separatist leaders awaiting trial in a Spanish jail over their role in last year’s failed independence bid began a hunger strike on Saturday, their lawyer said.

Jordi Sanchez, the former head of the influential grassroots ANC independence movement, and Jordi Turull, a former minister in the Catalan regional government, are taking this step to “raise awareness” of their unfair treatment by Spain’s justice system, lawyer Jordi Pina told a news conference in Barcelona.

“I did not recommend this action, it is a decision of my clients and they have my full support,” he added.

In a statement read by Pina, the two men accused Spain’s Constitutional Court of blocking their appeals against their imprisonment from reaching the European Court of Human Rights. Pina said he did not know if the five other Catalan separatist leaders jailed in the Lledoners penitentiary located some 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Barcelona would later join the hunger strike.

Spain’s Supreme Court in October ordered a total of 18 former Catalan separatist leaders to stand trial over last year’s declaration of independence.

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds over the failed secession bid. The sensitive trial is expected to start in early 2019 and will focus on the attempt by Catalan leaders to break away from Spain in October 2017 by staging a referendum despite a court ban and subsequently proclaiming independence.

Nine of the separatists remain in pre-trial detention, including the seven at the Lledoners prison who have been in jail for the last eight to 13 months without trial.

The announcement of the hunger strike comes a day after the first photo of the seven jailed Catalan leaders at the Lledoners prison was released by grassroots pro-independence organisation Omnium Cultural.

The picture — which was splashed on the cover of Catalan newspapers on Saturday — shows the seven men smiling and wearing casual clothes in one of the courtyards of the prison.

Omnium Cultural said it released the picture to send a message of “unity” ahead of the start of their trial.

In a statement, Catalan regional president Quim Torra expressed his “solidarity” with the two prisoners who began a hunger strike.

“This dramatic and drastic measure is being taken because of what we find to be the complete violation of citizens’ rights, civil and political rights, and of respect for the legal process. It’s my personal view that penal law is being used for vengeance,” he added. </s> Two jailed Catalan separatist leaders awaiting trial over their role in Catalonia's failed bid to secede from Spain last year began a hunger strike Saturday, their lawyer said.

Jordi Sanchez, the former head of the influential grassroots ANC independence movement, and Jordi Turull, a former minister in the Catalan regional government, were both refusing food, lawyer Jordi Pina told a Barcelona news conference.

They wanted to highlight what they see as their unfair treatment by Spain's justice system, he said.

"I did not recommend this action," he added. "It is a decision of my clients and they have my full support."

The two men accused Spain's Constitutional Court of preventing their appeals from making it to the European Court of Human Rights, in a statement read by their lawyer.

"We will never give up on our right to a fair trial. We do not ask the Constitutional Court for any treatment of favor. But we do not passively accept any discrimination or unwanted delays," they said.

Pina said he did not know if the five other Catalan separatist leaders jailed in the Lledoners penitentiary some 70 kilometers (43 miles) north of Barcelona would join the hunger strike.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the hunger strike "was obviously not good news" and was not justified because the rights of the jailed Catalan separatist leaders were being respected.

"I think it is important to stress that they will have a fair trial because we live in a society based on the rule of law and the judiciary is independent," he told reporters at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

Spain's Supreme Court in October ordered a total of 18 former Catalan separatist leaders to stand trial over last year's declaration of independence.

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion or misuse of public funds over the failed secession bid. They are asking for sentences of 17 years for Sanchez and 16 years for Turull.

The sensitive trial is expected to start in early 2019 and will focus on the attempt by Catalan leaders to break away from Spain in October 2017 by staging a referendum despite a court ban and subsequently proclaiming independence.

Nine separatists in all are in pre-trial detention. The seven at Lledoners prison have been held for between eight and 13 months without trial.

In a statement, Catalan regional president Quim Torra expressed his "solidarity" with the two hunger-striking prisoners.

"This dramatic and drastic measure is being taken because of what we find to be the complete violation of citizens' rights, civil and political rights, and of respect for the legal process. It's my personal view that criminal law is being used for vengeance," he added.

The announcement of the hunger strike comes a day after the first photo of the seven jailed Catalan leaders at the Lledoners prison was released by grassroots pro-independence organization Omnium Cultural.

The picture -- splashed across the cover of Catalan newspapers on Saturday -- shows the seven men smiling and wearing casual clothes in one of the courtyards of the prison.

Omnium Cultural said it released the picture to send a message of "unity" ahead of the start of their trial.

Sanchez told Reuters in an interview last week that he was convinced he would not get a fair trial in Spain, but believed he and other separatist leaders would be acquitted by the European Court of Human Rights.

Tensions with Madrid have cooled since last year but the Catalan government continues to advocate for a referendum on leaving Spain, something the Spanish government has said it will not accept.

Election results and polls show that the 7.5 million resident of the wealthy Catalonia region are roughly equally divided by the secession issue.
Jordi Turull and Jordi Sànchez, jailed Catalan separatist leaders accused of rebellion, start a hunger strike.