The Spanish prosecution sustains that the Catalan vice president, Oriol Junqueras, the other government ministers and the presidents of pro-independence groups ANC and Òmnium, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, must remain in prison on remand.
The public prosecutors who appeared at today's Supreme Court hearing, Consuelo Madrigal and Jaime Moreno, asked the judge to continue the preventive detention for the ten Catalan prisoners, "in the face of the gravity of the matters under investigation".
The Public Prosecutor's Office "in its report, provisionally individualized the responsibilities of each one" of the prisoners. In any case, the prosecutors consider that at the moment "the risk of escape and of re-offending remains".
The prosecution made an oral presentation of its position, after the appearances of the ten accused - very brief appearances in some cases, although all of them were long enough to state their acceptance of article 155, in different ways and with different nuances according to each case, and to make it clear that in standing for the elections called by the Spanish state they will not deviate from a legal course. The accused also argued in favour of the right to political participation.
Despite all that was said, however, the prosecution was not convinced, and the state's legal representatives asked the judge to maintain the Catalan defendants in prison.
The public prosecutors do not see that the fact of standing for election and having to take part in the campaign justifies their release from prison; on the contrary, they believe that the seriousness of the alleged crimes of rebellion, and the risk that the defendants may abscond or repeat their offences, should weigh more heavily and thus, they are opposed to the provisional liberation of the Catalans.
Nor was the political party VOX convinced. The extreme-right group, which has made an additional, private prosecution, asked the judge to keep the defendants behind bars.
The magistrate Pablo Llarena has to make a decision on Monday. He has promised to give his resolution between 9 and 10am and has already summoned the legal officials to come and receive this from him. Should he opt to allow provisional release on bail, the prisoners will be able to deposit the required sums at midday and leave prison in the afternoon.