Judge denies Junqueras family petition for politician's 'immediate release'

A judge in Manresa's local court has denied jailed indepedence leader Oriol Junqueras his freedom after the politician's father and wife had asked for his "immediate release" via a writ of habeas corpus on Friday morning. 

The ERC head's family had applied for the jailed leader's release in this court as it is the one closest to the prison where he is held.

Junqueras' relatives presented a petition for the writ of habeas corpus one day after Spain's Supreme Court denied him freedom to carry out his functions as an MEP.

The European Court of Justice ruled last month that the pro-independence leader should have been granted immunity from June 2019, when the EU election results were declared and he won a seat as an MEP – Junqueras headed an electoral list that got three seats.

Supreme Court arguments to deny EU judges

The Luxembourg judges said that since Junqueras had parliamentary immunity, he should have been released in June in order to take up his seat, which was denied by Spain's Supreme Court.

On Thursday, the top court in Spain again rejected his release and his immunity after considering the European ruling, arguing that the question of his immunity is no longer applicable as he has already been convicted and disqualified from public office.

The EU court ruling stated that he should have been freed in June, when he was still in preventive detention and pending a verdict, but did not explicitly rule on his current post-verdict status.