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Spain: Socialists Pin Future Government on Catalan's Release

Associated Press

   MADRID - Spain's state attorney called Monday for an imprisoned Catalan
   politician to be allowed to be sworn in as a member of the European
   Union parliament, a step that could ease the way for a center-left
   governing alliance to take office in the country.

   The European Union's top court ruled this month that Oriol Junqueras,
   who served as Catalonia's vice president until 2017, had the right to
   parliamentary immunity when he was elected to the bloc's parliament in
   May, when he was already on trial.

   In response to the ruling, the Spanish state attorney's office on
   Monday said that Junqueras should be allowed to leave prison to take
   his seat. But it said that a request should be made immediately for the
   European Parliament to drop the separatist politician's immunity, so
   that he would serve the 13-year prison term for his role in a secession
   bid two years ago.

   The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision in coming days.

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