Jordi Sànchez (politician)

Jordi Sànchez i Picanyol (born 1 October 1964) is a Spanish political activist from Catalonia, who was president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) between May 2015 and November 2017.

He was imprisoned in October 2017, accused of sedition in connection with the Catalan independence referendum. In March 2018, following the Catalan regional election in December, he was proposed as candidate for president by the leading pro-independence Together for Catalonia alliance, led by the former president Carles Puigdemont, who was in Belgium. On 10 July 2018 a Supreme Court judge suspended him as a deputy in the Catalan parliament.

During December 2018 he went on a hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment and treatment.

In the 2019 general election he was head of the Together for Catalonia candidacy for the Province of Barcelona. After being elected for the Congress of Deputies, he resigned as member of the Parliament of Catalonia on 18 May 2019. He was sworn in on 20 May 2019, but on 24 May, by a recommendation of the Supreme Court, the Board of the Congress suspended him and other Catalan independence leaders that were elected lawmakers. In October 2019 he was sentenced guilty of sedition by Spanish Supreme Court, and given a nine-year sentence. Amnesty International believes his detention and sentence constituted a disproportionate restriction on his rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.

He was freed in June 2021 following a government pardon. Provided by Wikipedia