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Catalonia's jailed former vice-president has called for an end to the deadlock in parliament over the region's next president.
Oriol Junqueras said there is life in the pro-independence movement beyond ex-Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
Mr Puigdemont insists he remains Catalonia's only legitimate leader, despite being in exile in Belgium.
Mr Junqueras was arrested in November 2017 for his role in October's declaration of independence from Spain.
He is the leader of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), and was remanded in custody without bail on accusations of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds.
"The strength of a popular, democratic and non-violent movement resides above all in its capacity to broaden itself," Mr Junqueras explained in written answers to questions from the BBC he received from his lawyers on a recent visit to Estremera prison outside Madrid.
"It is the sum of many actors and social sectors, among them the leaders of parties. That is our strength."
'Complex scenario'
Mr Puigdemont has demanded to be reinstated as president after his Together for Catalonia electoral list won 34 seats to the ERC's 32 in the elections of 21 December. But he remains in Belgium, facing the same charges as Mr Junqueras.
The situation has deadlocked the main pro-independence forces.
As long as no new government is formed in the region, direct rule from Madrid imposed last November will stay in force.
"Our priority is to implement the results of 21 December. To do that we need to get our government back in a very complex scenario," Mr Junqueras said.
"I am sure we will reach an agreement to form a government, and soon. It's a necessity."
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On Tuesday the Catalan parliamentary speaker, the ERC's Roger Torrent, again delayed presenting a reform allowing Mr Puigdemont to be chosen as president without returning to Catalonia, where Spanish authorities would arrest him.
After almost six months of crisis since the controversial referendum, Mr Junqueras said the aims of politicians "must be always to improve people's lives, [and make] a fairer and freer state at the service of citizens.
"Most people don't feel that the state is serving them," he said.
On his own situation in jail for almost four months, Mr Junqueras said: "Prison is hard. And being in prison without having been convicted, when I am an elected MP who has always expressed himself democratically and peacefully, is surprising and something that would not happen in the UK."
Mr Junqueras, who is a devout Catholic and a father of two children, said he feared spending many years behind bars.
- bbc
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