Spanish court reviews custody of ex-Catalan vice president

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court is reviewing Thursday an appeal by former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras against his jailing during the restive region's recent drive for independence from Spain.

A panel of three Supreme Court judges will decide on whether to keep Junqueras in custody or grant bail, which would ease the way for him to take his oath as a regional lawmaker and possibly become the new Catalan leader.

Junqueras was jailed in early November by authorities in Madrid for his role in the independence movement that flared during the fall. He faces the prospect of formal charges over possible rebellion, sedition and embezzlement, punishable under Spanish law with decades behind bars.

Around 20 supporters gathered at the gates of the court to call for Junqueras' release and urge authorities to free three other jailed Catalan separatists.

"It seems we are constantly treated with derision," said Gabriel Rufian, a national lawmaker with Junqueras' left-republican ERC party. "We think they should be moved to a prison nearer to their families in Catalonia."

The judges' decision could be announced Thursday or in coming days.

Junqueras, the head of the left-republican ERC party, has already had two court appeals rejected. His lawyer hopes that the separatists' narrow victory in the Dec. 21 elections to the Catalan parliament will help get Junqueras released.

With a population of 7.5 million, Catalonia generates a fifth of Spain's 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.3 trillion) economy. A series of opinion polls have shown that a majority of Catalans want the right to decide the region's future in a binding and legal referendum but that they are evenly divided over the merits of splitting from Spain.

The current tumult in Catalonia peaked Oct. 1 when the then Catalan government ran an independence illegal that was deemed illegal in terms of the Spanish constitution. Backers of independence claimed to have won the referendum even though pro-Spain parties boycotted the vote.

In response to the Catalan government's subsequent declaration of independence, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called early regional elections.

Pro-secession parties, including a ticket led by the fugitive ousted president Carles Puigdemont and Junqueras' ERC, won most seats in the election.

But it remains to be seen if they can form government with some of their elected lawmakers and their presidential hopefuls either seeking refuge abroad or in jail.

The new Catalan parliament convenes on Jan. 17, and the first attempt to elect a government is expected to be held by the end of the month.

The secession parties hope to vote Puigdemont in as president but the former leader risks being arrested and jailed if he returns to Spain from Brussels, where he fled with four other members of his former cabinet.

Alternatively, Junqueras could be the separatists' candidate but he would need to be present for an investiture vote in the parliament, and would also need the votes of those in self-imposed exile or in jail.

Oriol's lawyer Andreu Van den Eynde has said that if the court did not agree to Junqueras' release, he would seek to have him transferred to a prison in Catalonia, a base from where he might be better able to attend parliament whether as a lawmaker or president.