SPAIN was dealt another blow yesterday after the country’s attorney general recommended that jailed Catalan independence leader and MEP-elect Oriol Junqueras should be released from prison to take up his seat in Brussels.

He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in October for his part in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, and had been taken into “preventative detention” shortly after the poll.

During his trial, he was elected an MEP – five months before he was sentenced. The European Court of Justice (ECJ), said earlier this month he was entitled to parliamentary immunity from the time the European election result was declared in May, a ruling that triggered calls for his immediate release.

READ MORE: Fresh calls to free Catalan indy leader Oriol Junqueras

Junqueras leads the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), which has been involved in negotiations with the Socialist party (PSOE) of prime minister-elect Pedro Sanchez to enable him to form a government, and the attorney general’s report to the Supreme Court is seen by some as a gesture of political goodwill.

Sanchez’s party won the general election last month, but fell short of a majority, and even a rapid coalition with the anti-austerity, left-wing Podemos only brought their total seat count to 155 – short of the 176 needed for a majority.

The Basque nationalist party PNV, with six seats, agreed to back the Socialist-led coalition, which left the 13 held by ERC and others by smaller parties, crucial to the formation of a government.

While the 16-page report – signed by Rosa Maria Seoane, a state attorney who attended the indy leaders’ trial – recommended that Junqueras be released, it is something of a double-edged sword.

It said the Supreme Court should allow Junqueras to complete his accreditation as an MEP in Madrid, which he had previously been denied, and then allow him to travel to Brussels to officially take up his parliamentary seat.

However, it also asked the European Parliament to strip Junqueras of immunity so the case against him would not be completely dropped – a move that would require a consensus among the 751 MEPs and could prove difficult to achieve.

Andreu Van den Eynde, the lawyer representing the ERC leader, yesterday tweeted: “The ECJ ... ordered to protect European institutions and the rights of constituents. That is why it is essential to guarantee the #immunitat. State lawyer assumes @junqueras must be released without restriction and that he must be able to exercise his functions in full freedom as a MEP ... however, [it] loses a good opportunity to fully defend immunity from any legal action, which results in null and void conviction.”

READ MORE: Catalan leader Oriol Junqueras to stay in jail as convicted royal goes home

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is also an MEP-elect and who is in exile in Belgium, wrote on Twitter: “This is what the ECJ says and what the TS [Supreme Court] should have allowed since the day after the election. They are too late … The lawyer advocates that Junqueras can pick up the minutes and go to Brussels …”

Javier Perez Royo, a Spanish expert in constitutional law, said: “The Supreme Court has two alternatives: either to recognise the mistake it has made and proceed to declare the sentence to Junqueras void or remain in error and receive a new humiliation from the ECJ.”

Meanwhile, Sanchez and Podemos leader, Pablo Iglesias, yesterday unveiled their programme for a coalition government – a 50-page document that included proposals for income tax increases for high earners and corporate income, along with a series of social and feminist-leaning measures. ERC representatives have seen the document, but will not decide on it until a national council meeting next month.

In a statement, the party said: “ERC will study the proposal and the state of the negotiation internally over the next few days, but rules out the holding of the national council meeting, which is essential to a possible agreement, before the end of the year.”