MADRID (AP) — Nine Catalan separatist leaders jailed for sedition are eyeing freedom, after Spain’s Cabinet pardoned them in the hope of starting what Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a much-needed reconciliation in the country’s restive northeast. Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, who in 2019 got the heaviest sentence of 13 years in prison for sedition and misuse of public funds, will go free along with his associates after spending three-and-a-half years behind bars. The pardons lifted the remaining years of their prison terms, while keeping intact their status as being unfit to hold public office. The government said that the pardons could be revoked if their beneficiaries try to lead another breakaway bid.
Catalan separatists eye freedom after Spain’s Cabinet pardon
