SPAIN: EU's Highest Court Rules Catalan MEP Should Have Been Freed To Take Seat

Spain: EU’s Highest Court Rules Catalan MEP Should Have Been Freed To Take Seat

Oriol Junqueras's party said he should be immediately released from prison

The Spanish courts should have released Catalan independence activist Oriol Junqueras from prison to enable him to assume his role as A MEP after May's elections, the European Court of Justice has said.

Mr Junqueras enjoyed an immunity that "entails lifting any measure of provisional detention imposed prior to the declaration of that member's election," the court said, in a ruling read by ECJ president Koen Lenaerts.

Reacting to the judgment, Mr Junqueras's party said he should be immediately released from prison.

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) said on Twitter the trial in Spain in October that sentenced its chairman to 13 years behind bars for his role in Catalonia's failed independence bid in 2017 should be declared void after the EU's top court ruling.