Pro-independence political prisoner Oriol Junqueras, the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) candidate for the April 28 elections, affirmed Friday that his party will not allow a far-right government in Spain but warned it would not give up its referendum on independence.
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"We will do everything in our power to ensure there is no far-right government, as any European democrat would do," he said, adding that he imagines Catalonia "as an independent state ... responding to its citizens' demands."
In a press conference broadcasted from "Soto del Real" prison in Madrid, Junqueras said his party was willing to negotiate with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) to eventually inauguration Pedro Sanchez, which does not imply that the ERC will "give away" its votes.
Despite the Catalonian leftist's approach, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that "never means never, (and) there will never be a referendum" on the sessesion of Catalonia from Spain.
Referring to the events that followed Catalonia's independence declaration in October 2017, Junqueras denounced the Spanish state's "exerting unnecessary violence against citizens," which will not cause the people's aspirations to dissapate.
"More than two million Catalans believe the best option for the future is to create an independent state, but the answer is to prohibit, beat and imprison us," he said and stressed that "independence is inevitable."
Oriol Junqueras, a former history professor who was Catalonia's vice president during the 2017 independence referendum, has been in detention since Nov. 2, 2017.
He is currently being tried in the Spain's Supreme Court for the alleged crimes of rebellion, embezzlement of public funds, disobedience and sedition.