The former chair of the United Nations Working Group against Arbitrary Detention, Mads Andenas, has publicly criticised Spain for its political prisoners. «It is very difficult to criticise Venezuela, Iran, China, or Russia when Spain behaves this way.» He calls the politically motivated persecution of Catalan politicians and representatives of Catalan civil society by the Spanish judiciary an «abuse of the judicial system [...] clearly inappropriate in a European political system». Andenas also finds clear words for the official position of the states of the European Union to talk down the political prisoners in Spain as an «internal affair» of Spain and not to sanction Spain's human rights violations in this regard.
Spain is currently trying to legally persecute thousands of Catalans and in some cases ruin them financially even before a final judgement has been made. One of these cases has now been made public by a professor at Princetown University in the U.S.A:
https://forms.gle/2uZJUTvxQ6SWMQ2R6
It is one case among many. Former presidents of the Generalitat de Catalunya such as Artur Mas have also been financially damaged in this way.
The first two political prisoners, Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Turull, have finally been able — after an undignified delaying tactic by the Spanish judicial system — to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
It is to be expected that the verdict will be devastating for Spain.
International human rights organisations strongly support the case of political prisoner Jordi Cuixart. Spain is losing face internationally and has to accept to stand in a row with states which the European Union continually accuses of human rights violations, while at the same time ignoring and tolerating the obvious injustice in Spain.
And Europe remains silent and watches idly! It is a shame to be a citizen of such a European Union!