According to the speakers, Catalan political leaders are taking international legal action against the violation of their political rights by Spanish authorities. Oriol Junqueras, Carles Puigdemont, Raul Romeva, Josep Rull, Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Turull, members of the Parliament of Catalonia, have been arbitrarily charged with violent rebellion and have been suspended from office by the Spanish Supreme Court for their role in the organization of the peaceful independence referendum in October 2017. Junqueras, Romeva, Rull, Sanchez and Turull have been in pre-trial detention for eight to fourteen months, while Puigdemont lives in exile in Brussels. Having won the snap elections called by the Spanish government, they are now suspended from public office in disrespect for the democratic vote. They are reclaiming their right to exercise their parliamentary mandate by lodging individual complaints before the UN Human Rights Committee.