Separatist Catalan lawmakers want a vote on electing Jordi Sanchez as president of Catalonia, but the Supreme Court last week refused to free him, AP reported.

The appeal filed Monday asks for Sanchez to attend only the parliamentary session, not for his full release from preventive detention while a judge investigates whether he committed crimes related to a court-banned Catalan independence referendum last October.

Separatists are proposing Sanchez in defiance of the Spanish government, which argues that anyone facing charges and unable to be present at the debate in Barcelona and vote can’t be elected.

A judge sitting behind closed doors in Brussels will hear from lawyers for Puigdemont and four of his former ministers, who all fled to Belgium in Oct despite a summons to appear in court in Spain, claiming they would not get a fair trial, AFP reported.

Prosecutors last month asked the judge to approve the European arrest warrant issued by Madrid for the five in the opening round of what could become a protracted courtroom battle.

Monday’s hearing comes on the eve of the official start of campaigning for Dec 21 elections in Catalonia, ordered by Madrid to “restore normality” to the wealthy northeastern region, which declared independence unilaterally following a hotly disputed Oct 1 referendum.

Puigdemont’s lawyer said at the weekend he will remain in Belgium until after the elections.

“No matter what, they will be (in Brussels) till at least Dec 21 and according to my calculations this could go on till mid-Jan,” lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas told Catalan radio Rac1, referring to Puigdemont and the four former ministers.

“I am convinced that no matter what happens they will have recourse to an appeal,” the lawyer said.

Spanish prosecutors want to prosecute Puigdemont and his former ministers for rebellion – which carries a maximum 30-year jail sentence – and sedition for holding the referendum, which was declared illegal and unconstitutional by the courts, as well as for misusing public funds.

Meanwhile a Spanish Supreme Court judge is set to decide whether or not to free 10 other separatist leaders who were jailed pending a probe into their role in the Catalan independence drive.

Any release on bail would mark a turn in the election campaign, particularly for separatist parties who have repeatedly accused Madrid of taking “political prisoners” and “repression” after their attempt to declare unilateral independence fell flat.

Puigdemont and his cadres say the charges against them are politically motivated and as both sides are likely to appeal if the judge rules against them in the extradition hearing, the case could drag on for months, according to the Belgian justice minister.

Christophe Marchand, lawyer for two of Puigdemont’s ex-ministers, told AFP that “the facts as written in the arrest warrant are not punishable under Belgian law”, saying the case was an attempt to punish a “political process that passed off peacefully”.

After Monday’s hearing the court is expected to make its ruling in eight to 10 days, according to the Brussels prosecutor’s office.

A spokesman for Puigdemont said Friday he would “respect the schedule” of the Belgian legal process.

All institutions, including police, need to follow instructions from the democratically-elected Catalan government, the region’s foreign affairs spokesman, Raul Romeva, told BBC radio.

According to the official, EU democracy cannot be trusted if it allows Madrid to impose direct rule on Catalonia, RT reported.

“How can the European Union live with that situation if it appears?” he said, “How can they be credible if they allow this to happen? Because what I can tell you is that the people and the institutions in Catalonia would not let this… happen.”

In the meantime, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that Madrid has not had any contact with the Catalan regional government since Saturday, Reuters reported.

The Spanish government may choose a single representative to temporarily govern Catalonia, she added.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will lose his powers and no longer receive a salary if the Senate approves direct intervention, Santamaria said.

The Senate is expected to approve the measures against Catalonia on Friday, she added.

But an official from Carles Puigdemont’s party says that he has no intention of doing that and he plans to make a full declaration of independence in the next few days if Spain’s government resorts to taking over control of Catalonia’s semiautonomous powers, AP reported.

PDECat party coordinator Marta Pascal outlined Puigdemont’s plans after a meeting late Wednesday.

Spain has threatened to take direct control of the autonomous region if Puigdemont fails to meet the 08:00 GMT (4 a.m. EDT) Thursday cutoff.

Spain’s government says it would be willing to hold off on doing that if the Catalan government were to call a snap regional election. But a Catalan official has ruled that out.

Shouting “freedom” or “independence” and carrying candles, the demonstrators stood massed on a large boulevard in the city center at nightfall before observing a long moment of silence, AFP reported.

Around 200,000 people took part, a spokesman for Barcelona’s municipal police said.

Candle-lit demonstrations were also held in Girona, Reus and other Catalan cities in protest at the Madrid-based National Court’s Monday ruling to keep Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sanchez behind bars pending investigations into sedition charges.

“They want us to be afraid so we stop thinking of independence, but the opposite will happen, we are more every day and I think we will achieve it in the end,” Elias Houariz, a 22-year-old baker, told AFP at the rally.

The demonstration came as the clock ticks down to Thursday, the deadline Madrid has set for Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to spell out whether or not he intends to declare independence outright following the banned October 1 referendum.

Puigdemont has so far declined to give a definitive response, calling instead for Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to come to the negotiating table.

But Rajoy rejects mediation as a non-starter and unless Puigdemont backs down, appears likely to start imposing direct control over the semi-autonomous region.

Doing so could further escalate Spain’s worst political crisis since it emerged from military dictatorship in 1977.

The referendum, marred by a police crackdown on voters, resulted in a 90-percent “Yes” vote. But turnout was only 43 percent as many supporters of Spanish unity stayed away after the Constitutional Court ruled the vote illegal.

With the two sides stuck in a stalemate, Madrid announced late Monday that it was cutting its economic growth forecast for next year from 2.6 to 2.3 percent.

The prolonged uncertainty has rattled stock markets, while nearly 700 companies have moved their legal headquarters out of Catalonia, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The Spanish league have delayed putting out to tender their international television rights amid uncertainty over what the Catalonia crisis could mean for Barcelona, La Liga president Javier Tebas said on Tuesday.

“This is a problem that could greatly affect the value of our competitions,” he said.

Thousands of workers in Barcelona and other cities also staged a brief walkout at noon in protest at the detention of Cuixart and Sanchez.

The pair nicknamed the “two Jordis” are the leaders of pro-independence citizens’ groups Omnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly (ANC).

The groups count tens of thousands of members each and have emerged as influential players in the crisis.

“We are entering in a new phase of mobilizations, and they will be peaceful as always,” said Omnium spokesman Marcel Mauri.

Both Cuixart and Sanchez are accused of encouraging a major protest last month as Spanish police raided the Catalan administration’s offices in the run-up to the referendum.

Police officers were trapped for hours and their vehicles vandalized as protesters ringed the building, with Cuixart and Sanchez standing on a police car calling for “permanent mobilization” against the Spanish state.

The crime of sedition can carry up to 15 years in prison.

At the evening rally, Maria Miracle, 77, complained that “the corrupt remain free and people who organize civilized, peaceful protests are jailed.”

She understands Spanish but insisted on speaking to AFP in Catalan, remembering the times during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship when the regional language was officially banned and she “had to pay one peseta for every word of Catalan spoken at school.”

Omnium Cultural was founded in 1961 to keep Catalan alive.

Though she opposes the current drive for independence, Barcelona’s leftist Mayor Ada Colau blasted the move to detain Sanchez and Cuixart, who she said were being held as “political prisoners”.

With its own language and culture, Catalonia is proud of its autonomy but its 7.5 million people are split over whether to break away completely from the rest of Spain.

Supporters of independence say the region pays more into Spanish coffers than it gets back and could prosper by going it alone, but their opponents say secession would spell political and economic disaster.

“As for the developments in Spain, as you have correctly noted, Moscow’s consistent position is that it is a domestic affair of the kingdom,” Peskov told journalists, TASS news agency reported.

He refrained from commenting on police actions in Catalonia on the voting day, saying only that “Moscow thinks it inappropriate when anybody comments on the methods of work of Russian law enforcers.”

On Sunday, Catalonia held a referendum on secession from Spain. A total of 90% of voters, or slightly more than two million people, said “yes” to Catalonia’s independence. The plebiscite was held in the tense atmosphere as the national police and civil guard were taking effort to stop the voting, seizing ballot boxes and papers, as ruled by a Spain court.

The Catalan authorities planned to open about 2,300 polling stations, of which about 300 were closed by law enforcers. Police actions sparked clashes with the voters. Police were reported to use rubber bullets and tear gas. According to the Catalan authorities, as many as 844 people were hurt in police violence. The Spanish interior ministry, in turn, said that 13 law enforcers had been hurt in clashes.

The ‘Diada’ day of Sept. 11, which commemorates the fall of Barcelona to Spain in 1714, is often used by activists to voice their demands for an independent state. Coachloads of demonstrators travel to Barcelona from villages in the region.

Hostility between Madrid and Barcelona has ramped up since Spain’s Constitutional Court last Thursday suspended the referendum, planned for Oct. 1, following a legal challenge by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Reuters reported.

The government says the referendum contravenes the constitution, which states that Spain is indivisible.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has urged ‘independentistas’ to take to the streets on Monday in a massive show of support for the referendum.

“It’s vital that we come out in force for this Diada for the Oct. 1 referendum to be successful,” he said on Twitter. “I’ll be there.”

Spain’s state prosecutor has begun criminal proceedings against Puigdemont and 13 members of his cabinet on charges of misuse of public money, disobedience and abuse of office after the Catalan parliament approved the referendum last Wednesday.

Rajoy has urged Catalan civil servants and mayors to uphold the law and to stop any preparations for the referendum over the next three weeks.

However, around two-thirds of Catalonia’s mayors have so far said they will allow the use of municipal facilities for the vote, with one mayor ripping up a court order warning of legal repercussions in front of a cheering crowd.

Puigdemont has said he has ballot boxes and voting papers hidden and ready to deploy at any moment. Over the weekend, police searched a printing press and the offices of a local newspaper for signs of preparation for the referendum.

At the height of pro-independence fervor in 2012, during a deep economic recession in Spain, around one million people took to the streets waving the Catalan flag and singing the Catalan anthem.

Polls have shown support for independence waning since then, and those wanting a separate state are in a minority. However, a majority of Catalans want to hold a referendum on the issue.