IN another setback for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, a German court has refused to jail ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont while it awaits a decision on his European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain.

A petition presented by prosecutors in Schleswig-Holstein said there was “an increased risk of flight” after new information was received from Spanish authorities, but the court said it saw no such risk.

It came as Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena refused the temporary release of two Catalan political prisoners to allow them to take up ministerial appointments in the new government.

READ MORE: Mariano Rajoy on verge of fresh crisis over Catalonia

Jordi Turull and Josep Rull were previously ministers in Puigdemont’s cabinet but were among those sacked when Spain imposed direct rule on Catalonia.

Llarena – bête noire of Catalonia’s independence movement – said there was a risk of repeat offending after new President Quim Torra promised to continue working towards that aim.

Torra said he would reinstate all officials dismissed by Madrid, including jailed ministers or those seeking refuge abroad, and insisted his cabinet investiture will go ahead today, as planned, despite their nominations not being published in the official gazette.

Speaking to Catalan radio station RAC-1, he said he had asked Rajoy’s office in a letter to clarify why it had not authorised their publication and added that the Generalitat could consider taking legal action against Spain should an explanation not be forthcoming.

The “new information” that so enthused German prosecutors came from Spain, in documents and videos which they said showed “violence against the Spanish police” during the October referendum.

“The riots were to such an extent that the prosecutor assumes that he [Puigdemont] is extraditable on the charge of rebellion,” they said in a press statement.

However, denying the request to jail Puigdemont, the court said: “The Attorney General has based his request to raise the state of execution of extradition on new information from Spain according to which, according to the general prosecutor, there was more risk of flight. According to the information presented, the Senate for Criminal Matters of the High Court does not see more risk of flight.”

Meanwhile, a Catalan national studying in Glasgow has spoken of her anger at Spain’s flouting of human rights laws and politicisation of the judiciary.

Monica Pons told The National she was angry, but not surprised, when Rajoy on Monday refused to lift direct rule in Catalonia.

And she was worried about the state of democracy in her homeland at present: “The Spanish Government and Rajoy have been using the judicial system in order to benefit their political interests. What happened in Catalonia is an attack not only against our country – the decision that PP [People’s Party], CC [Citizens’] and PSOE [Spanish Socialists] took demonstrates the lack of democracy in Spain and the non-existence of human and prison inmates’ rights.

“It is shocking that the political prisoners are still in prison, far from their homes and families, without a trial and firm sentence. They are violating their rights because after a firm sentence they can be removed from office, so Quim Torra has the absolute right to appoint them as ministers.”

She added: “The actions that the Spanish Government is taking against Catalonia, the prosecution and criminalisation that the citizens and politicians are suffering and the use of the judicial system as a political tool demonstrates how Spain is living in the shadow of fascism.

“I support the idea of asking European leaders for help. Hopefully, this time they will see how the swastika and the Cara al Sol, the anthem of the Falange party, are part of every unionist protest, but are not prosecuted.

“European leaders must see it is not an internal problem, it is a problem that affects the whole community.”