CATALONIA’S political prisoners should be released immediately and there should be “unrestricted” dialogue to solve the crisis, along with the re-establishment of self-rule, according to a report being presented today to human rights judges in Strasbourg.

The 44-page document comes from Rafael Ribo, the Catalan Human Rights Ombudsman, who demolishes Spain’s legal arguments for charging ministers and high-ranking officials with rebellion, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years.

He is also highly critical of the “disproportionate” use of force by Spain’s civil guard and national police as they tried to stop the October 1 independence referendum.

“The restriction of personal freedom of various political and social leaders by an abusive, disproportionate use of the cautionary measure of pre-trial incarceration is perhaps the most flagrant violation of fundamental rights in the context of the facts that have been described in this report,” said Ribo.

“The civil guard and the national police corps acted in a manner that could be considered disproportionate, and caused damage greater than that which they supposedly sought to prevent, with interventions… that did not respect the principles of congruence, opportunity and proportionality taken up in the laws that regulate the activities of law enforcement agencies and corps.

“Especially serious is the fact that on October 1 State law enforcement agencies used rubber bullets, which caused at least one serious injury.”

Rubber bullets were banned by the Catalan Parliament in April 2014 and Ribo said he believed that all law agencies operating in Catalonia must respect that prohibition.

He makes a series of recommendations to the European judges, including the immediate release of those in pre-trial detention facing rebellion and sedition charges “while the trial is not held with full guarantees and there is an enforceable judgment”.

“We find ourselves facing historical conflicts of an imminently political nature that have impacts on fundamental rights,” he said.

“Therefore, the start of constructive dialogue is necessary to achieve a political solution to the conflict. This dialogue must not be limited only to the political and institutional realms, but must also take place between the civil societies of Catalonia and the rest of the state… and representatives of all political and social sensitivities in Catalonia.”

The ombudsman said that in the current context of “rights regression” it was necessary to strengthen the democratic guarantees to ensure rights and fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, assembly and demonstration.

Offences such as disobedience of the Constitutional Court had to be addressed under the strict, constitutionally-established principle of “no punishment without law,” he said.

Ribo added: “In light of the disproportion of the criminal law handling of all these affairs, it is necessary to recommend the recovery, by the state public prosecutor and all institutions that make up the judiciary, of the democratic principles of minimal intervention and proportionality in the strict application of the Criminal Code ... it is necessary to claim strict respect for the principle of proportionality by law enforcement agencies and corps that have to intervene in citizen demonstrations, and especially, the need to respect the prohibition of rubber bullets.”

Ribo also called for the “complete re-establishment of self-rule in Catalonia, without intervention in its administration or its finances”.