By JOAN FAUS
BARCELONA (Reuters) - A Catalan separatist leader briefly released from prison to testify in the region's parliament said on Tuesday he was confident the northeastern Spanish region would eventually vote again on independence.
Oriol Junqueras and five other politicians appeared before an investigative committee of the regional parliament, their first time out of prison since being sentenced in October to lengthy terms over a failed 2017 independence bid.
The parliament in the regional capital Barcelona was heavily protected by police as a few hundred protesters welcomed the jailed leaders, chanting "Independence" and "Freedom for political prisoners".
Catalonia unilaterally declared independence in 2017 following a referendum that was not authorized by Spanish courts. The Spanish government responded by taking control of the region and calling a new election for the regional leadership, in which separatist parties again won a majority.
"A self-determination referendum is a normal thing. We want to exercise it again and we will exercise it again," Junqueras, a former deputy regional leader, said in his testimony.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to attend a meeting in Barcelona on February 6 to set the agenda for negotiations over the region's political situation.
Junqueras said plans for talks between the Socialist-led Spanish government in Madrid and the pro-independence regional government in Barcelona were a "step forward". But he voiced scepticism that it would succeed given what he described as previous disappointments with the Socialists.
The dialogue was a condition for Junqueras' separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) to facilitate Sanchez's efforts to be appointed prime minister, an arrangement that was denounced by opposition parties on the right.
It comes at time of turmoil among the two main separatist parties, including ERC, which has raised the prospect of a snap regional election and further political uncertainty in Spain.
"We offer dialogue to everyone," said Junqueras, who received the longest jail sentence of the separatist politicians: 13 years.
He said his offer included those who welcomed the jail sentence: "Dialogue is the best of the options to make the (Catalan independent) republic that we wish a reality."