Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said his country will pardon the Catalan separatist prisoners who orchestrated the independence bid in 2017, a move that would end years of political deadlock over the region's quest for secession.
Sanchez announced that his government has taken a decision to "reconciliation" and considers that the amnesty, which will be approved during a cabinet session on Tuesday, will "pave the way for this path."
"A first step must be taken. The Spanish government will take that first step now," Sanchez said in a speech in Barcelona to some 300 Catalan civil society activists.
Most of the convicts were former members of the separatist regional government headed by Carles Puigdemont. The 12 separatists were convicted for their role in organizing a self-determination referendum on October 1, 2017, although the judiciary banned it, followed a few weeks later by the unilateral declaration of independence.
Nine of these separatists are serving prison terms ranging from 9 to 13 years, including Oriol Junqueras, leader of the Republican Left Party in Catalonia, the main ally of the Spanish government in Parliament.
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