HIGHLIGHTS-Spain reacts to sentencing of Catalan separatist leaders

Spain's Supreme Court on Monday sentenced nine Catalan separatist leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison for sedition over their role in the region's failed bid for independence in 2017. The three other defendants in the landmark ruling over a banned referendum and short-lived independence declaration were found guilty only of disobedience and not sentenced to prison.

Here are the main reactions: CARLES PUIGDEMONT, FORMER HEAD OF CATALONIA'S REGIONAL GOVERNMENT:

"100 years in prison in total. An atrocity. Now more than ever ... It is time to react like never before. For the future of our sons and daughters. For democracy. For Europe. For Catalonia." JOSEP RULL, FORMER REGIONAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILLOR, sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison: "If they had judged us on the facts, they would have acquitted us. Because they have judged ideas, they have condemned us. Condemning us, they have condemned the 2.5 million Catalans who voted on October 1 in one of the most extraordinary exercises of democracy that Europe has seen in the 21st century."

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