PLANS by pro-independence MPs in Catalonia to change the law to allow Carles Puigdemont to be sworn in as president by proxy from Germany appeared destined to fail yesterday as Mariano Rajoy secured support to mount another legal challenge.

Together for Catalonia (JxCat) had hoped the amendment would allow the investiture to take place within 10 days, but a Spanish advisory body, the council of state, approved the Prime Minister’s challenge in Spain’s Constitutional Court.

Once the court agrees to consider the appeal the law is automatically suspended until it makes a final ruling, which could take months and would, in effect, end Puigdemont’s latest hope of being sworn in before the May 22 deadline to choose a president.

Pro-independence parties kept their majority in the Catalan Parliament following last December’s election with Puigdemont’s JxCat winning the most votes.

He was its candidate for president, despite having fled to Brussels to avoid being arrested on charges including rebellion and misuse of €1.6 million (£1.4m) of public funds, and attempts to swear in Puigdemont or a replacement have been blocked by Spain’s politicised judiciary.

His latest bid was confirmed at a meeting of JxCat leaders in Berlin, which also decided that should this be blocked they would make a third attempt to swear in jailed MP Jordi Sànchez.

The move came as five Catalan politicians, former members of the parliament’s administrative body who are being prosecuted for allowing a debate on independence, appeared at Spain’s Supreme Court where judge Pablo Llarena – the bête noire of the independence movement – told them they faced criminal charges of disobedience.

Four of them – Lluís Guinó, Lluís Maria Corominas, Anna Simó and Ramona Barrufet – argued for their right to parliamentary immunity, asking for the lifting of “pre-emptive measures” to which they had been subject since last November for allowing parliament to vote on setting out a legal framework for last October’s referendum and the subsequent declaration of independence.

However, they must appear before a judge every week for an indefinite period, their passports have been seized and to avoid jail they each had to pay bail of €25,000 (£21,900).

MP Joan Josep Nuet, from the left-wing alliance Catalunya en Comú-Podem (In Common We Can) is the only one under investigation who is anti-independence, and faces no restrictions. He said they had “obeyed the democratic mandate” by allowing the debate.

He added: “We may have committed mistakes ... but by no means should the mistake we may have made entail prison sentences.”

Legal moves continue today against deposed ministers Meritxell Borràs and Carles Mundó, Santi Vila and former CUP MP Mireia Boya.

None are being prosecuted for rebellion – the most serious charge levelled against other Catalan leaders – which carries a sentence of up to 30 years’ imprisonment.

Tomorrow, the Appeals Chamber will consider the cases against the imprisonment of dismissed leaders Dolors Bassa, Josep Rull, Raül Romeva, Carme Forcadell and Jordi Turull, who have all been in prison since March 23.

It is not, however, the first time they have been behind bars for their roles in the independence campaign.

Turull had spent a month in prison and was arrested again this year before he could attend the second investiture debate to swear him in as president.

He was released provisionally in December, along with Rull, Romeva and Bassa. Forcadell spent one night in prison and was freed on bail of €150,000 (£131,900).

Among the other Catalan leaders currently in jail are activists Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart, deposed vice-president Oriol Junqueras and deposed minister Joaquim Forn.

Sànchez has twice been denied permission to attend an investiture debate to swear him in as president. Sànchez, Cuixart, Forn and Junqueras have all been in jail for more than six months.

Meanwhile, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) provoked anger on social media after cancelling a speech by former Catalan and pro-independence president Artur Mas.

Mas, who was barred from public office for holding a non-binding independence referendum, met First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh last month. UPM cancelled his appearance to “avoid controversy”, claiming it may “damage the image” of the university.

However, Eirik Hektoen tweeted: “Universities are places learning, debate, open minds, questioning ideas, except in #Spain.”

David Jiménez described it as “a clear violation of fundamental rights, in particular of discrimination for political ideology. We cannot let it pass”.