Some 40 members of the European Parliament of different groups have signed a manifesto this Tuesday expressing their "solidarity" with and "total admiration" for the Catalan prisoners who have embarked on a hunger strike.
The text in support of the "peaceful act of protest" was signed by members of the EU-Catalonia dialogue platform.
The platform denounces, like the prisoners, that although Spanish law and the Constitutional Court state that appeals against pretrial detention must be resolved within 30 days, the prisoners presented their first appeals over a year ago and still haven't received an answer.
"We call for the complete end of this anomaly in the European Union, where nine political prisoners and five exiles are deemed free citizens in all Member States but their own, Spain," they write.
The MEPs reiterate their call for the prisoners to be released and the withdrawal of the charges against them, something they believe necessary "in order to move forward". They also call on the institutions of the EU to "make a gesture of responsibility in favour of pushing for dialogue to find a political solution to the Catalan issue".