Spain: Pardons not a step towards referendum

MADRID – Spain’s government said on Wednesday that pardons granted to nine jailed Catalan separatist leaders did not mean it was prepared to discuss a referendum on independence for the region.

The Supreme Court authorized the release of the nine politicians and activists after the cabinet approved the clemency measure in a gesture it hopes will foster dialogue to keep the region part of Spain. The nine are expected to leave prison on Wednesday. They were sentenced in 2019 to between nine and 13 years for sedition and misuse of public funds, after an unauthorized referendum on a breakaway that led to a short-lived declaration of independence and Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

The pardons are conditional, and a ban on the leaders holding public office remains in place.(

Catalan leader Jordi Cuixart holds a banner in front of the Lledoners prison in Sant Joan de Vilatorrada, Spain, after the Spanish government announced a pardon for those who participated in Catalonia’s failed 2017 independence bid.

Workers prepare a raised seating area near the large portrait of Chinese leader Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China.