ROME (AP) 鈥� Catalan separatist leader Carle Puigdemont left a jail in Sardinia on Friday after a judge ruled that he could go free pending an Oct. 4 hearing on his extradition to Spain, where Puigdemont is wanted for sedition.
Puigdemont, the former president of Spain's Catalonia region and a member of the European Union parliament, left the jail in Sassari a day after he had been detained by police. He had been invited to attend a Catalan cultural event and a meeting of Sardinian independence sympathizers on the Mediterranean island.
Hours before his release on Friday, Judge Plinia Clara Azzena ruled that Puigdemont was free to travel without restrictions.
The judge told The Associated Press by phone from the courthouse in Sassari that while she found his arrest to be valid, based on the documentation she examined, 鈥渨e didn鈥檛 restrict him in any way. He can travel鈥� if he wants.
Azzena and two other judges will hold an Oct. 4 hearing to rule on extradition.
Puigdemont's Italian lawyer, Agostinangelo Marras, said after a court hearing in Sardinia on whether his client would have to remain in custody that when the judge asked whether he wanted to be returned to Spain, Puigdemont replied 鈥渘o.鈥�
Marras said the three-judge panel would take up the extradition request and decide whether the request has merits. He said the process was expected to take 鈥渁 few weeks.鈥�
Puigdemont was taken into custody Thursday night when he arrived at the airport in Alghero, Sardinia. Sardinia has strong Catalan cultural roots and its own independence movement. Alghero, a city on the island's northwest coast, is hosting the traditional Catalan folklore festival that Puigdemont had been to attend.
鈥淔reedom, freedom,'' shouted demonstrators outside the courthouse in Sassari. They held signs in a Sardinian dialect proclaiming, 鈥滵emocracy, the Sardinian nation supports the Catalan nation," and held the flags of Sardinia and Catalonia.
Although Puigdemont currently holds a seat in the European Parliament, that legislature stripped him of parliamentary immunity.
Puigdemont's detention caused political commotion in Spain, where the topic of Catalan independence has for decades been a deeply divisive issue. Separatists demanded his release and scheduled street protests, while right-of-center parties said he should face justice.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez said during an official visit to the Canary Islands on Friday that he has 鈥渞espect for all legal procedures opened in Spain, in Europe and, in this case, in Italy.鈥�
S谩nchez, who recently opened direct talks with Catalan regional leaders, said that 鈥渄ialogue is the only way to bring together Catalans who have distinct opinions and to bring together Catalans with the rest of Spain.鈥�
Just under half of Catalans want to break away from Spain, opinion polls indicate. Most Spaniards don鈥檛 want Catalonia to be granted independence.
At the heart of the immediate legal matter was whether the warrant issued by Spain seeking Puigdemont's arrest is valid. Gonzalo Boye, his lawyer, has insisted the warrant issued in 2019 that provided the basis for Italian authorities to detain him has been suspended.
Boye told Spanish radio station SER: 鈥淲e have to see whether the arrest warrant is enforceable. That鈥檒l be up to the legal authorities鈥� in Italy.
The Spanish Supreme Court judge handling the case, Pablo Llarena, sent a letter to the European Union's Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation stating that the arrest warrant is 鈥渋n force and pending the capture of those accused of rebellion.鈥�
Ultimately, it would be up to the Italian Justice Ministry to approve or deny extradition. Spain鈥檚 Supreme Court, which issued the European arrest warrant, made no official comment.
It鈥檚 not the first time Spanish courts have tried to detain Puigdemont abroad. After a Belgian court declined to send him back in 2017, the following year he was arrested in Germany but a court there also refused to extradite him.
Puigdemont and a number of his separatist colleagues fled to Belgium in October 2017, fearing arrest after holding an independence referendum for Catalonia that the Spanish courts and government said was illegal.
Nine Catalan separatists later received prison sentences for their role in the 2017 referendum ranging from nine to 13 years. They were pardoned in July, but Puigdemont, who fled, was not.
Puigdemont's 小蓝视频 taken into custody in Italy at Spain's request triggered anger by some Italian politicians, including Democratic Party lawmaker Romina Mura, who is Sardinian.
"To arrest a representative of the Catalan people who sits in the European Parliament, who is traveling to carry out his functions and on top of that arrest him in Sardinia in a city of Catalan tradition and culture like Alghero, is a relevant political deed, even if carried out as a judicial act,'' Mura said.
Alghero鈥檚 historic and cultural ties date with Catalonia date back to the 14th century, when a Catalan-Aragonese force won a naval battle off the Sardinian coast and the force's commander triumphantly entered the city on Sardinia鈥檚 northwest coast.
Some 20% of Alghero鈥檚 residents speak a Sardinian dialect derived from the Catalan language and recognized by both the national government of Italy and the island鈥檚 regional government.
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Renata Brito in Barcelona and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.
Frances D'emilio, The Associated Press
