Jailed Catalan separatist Sanchez drops leadership bid

Jordi Sanchez, a separatist civic leader in jail over his alleged role in Catalonia's secession bid, has dropped his bid to lead the region, the Catalan parliamentary speaker said today.

"Faced with the repeated violation of his fundamental rights... the lawmaker Jordi Sanchez sent me a letter announcing he was renouncing his candidacy," Roger Torrent said in a televised statement.