Catalonia's axed leader Carles Puigdemont "demanded" Thursday that members of his deposed government be released after a judge ordered them to be jailed pending further probes into their role in seeking independence.

"I demand the release of the ministers and the vice-president," Puigdemont said in a statement from an undisclosed location in Belgium broadcast on Catalan television. Among the eight detained is Puigdemont's deputy Oriol Junqueras.