All jailed leaders to ask for freedom after German court decision

All nine jailed pro-independence leaders will ask for their freedom as a reaction to Germany's decision on Carles Puigdemont.

The court in Schleswig-Holstein rejected the rebellion charges against him and only greenlighted an extradition for misuse of funds.

Nine politicians are in pre-trial jail after being prosecuted for rebellion –three of them, only face this crime.

After the Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, overseeing the case, stated a few days ago that the inquiry was over, other magistrates took over the proceedings.

In a joint press conference on Friday, the lawyers of all jailed leaders claimed that Germany's decision is one of the reasons for them to ask for their clients' freedom, but also the transferal of the case to other judges, and the nomination of a new Spanish general prosecutor.

"The crime of rebellion does not exist, they made it up, and manipulated events," said the attorney for grassroots pro-independence leader Jordi Cuixart, Marina Roig.

Different sentences would be "hard to explain"

Roig and her colleagues reminded listeners that as Germany rejected the rebellion charges, if Puigdemont were ultimately to be extradited only for misuse of funds, judges in Spain would only be able to try him for this crime.

This would lead to a situation in which, lawyers say, magistrates would find it "hard to explain" that some leaders are sentenced to 30 years in jail for rebellion, while the leader Puigdemont faced a maximum of 5 years if extradited.