Prison leave confirmed for first independence leaders

Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart on Wednesday became the first of the jailed independence leaders to be allowed out of prison, after the Catalan government authorized 48 hours leave for the activist leaders.

On Tuesday, the authorities at Lledoners prison, where both men are imprisoned, provisionally granted their first application for leave, pending authorization from the Catalan government's justice department.

The Catalan authorities did that on Wednesday morning, but they have not disclosed which days Cuixart and Sànchez will take the two days' leave in order to protect their privacy.

The two men, who are serving nine years for sedition, are the first of the independence leaders able to apply for prison leave because they were the first to be arrested, in October 2017.

According to the prison regime to which the leaders are subject, they are allowed to apply for up to 36 days leave a year, once a quarter of their sentence has been served.

Applications for leave that is less than two days are authorized by the Catalan justice department, while those for up to seven days require authorization from a special judge.

Tweeting from Lledoners prison shortly after the leave was provisionally granted on Tuesday, Cuixart wrote: "I will continue to apply for all the prisoners' rights that we have."

The other jailed leaders will have to wait longer before they can apply for similar privileges, although some are already preparing applications to be allowed out of prison to work.