FORMER vice-president of Catalonia, Oriol Junqueras, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison – the harshest term imposed on the 12 independence leaders.

The leader of the Republican Left of Cataloia (ERC) will also be disqualified from public office for the same period.

The seven judges at Spain’s Supreme Court, headed by Manuel Marchena, revealed the sentences for them all this morning after a weekend of selective leaking.

Former ministers Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa, were jailed for 12 years and disqualified after they and Junqueras were found guilty of sedition and embezzlement of public funds for their part in the October 2017 independence referendum.

READ MORE: Full statement from Catalonia’s Foreign Minister

Carme Forcadell, Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, is sentenced to 11-and-a-half years; and former ministers Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull 10-and-a-half years – all for the same offences.

The two civic leaders, Jordi Cuixart, president of Omnium Cultural, and Jordi Sànchez, who led the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) were both jailed for nine years for sedition.

Prosecutors had been seeking sentences of up to 25 years on charges of rebellion, but that allegation was dropped at the weekend.

Three officials who were no in pre-trial detention, Carles Mundó, Santi Vila and Meritxell Borràs were fined 60,000 euro each for disobedience.

Reaction to the sentencing was angry and immediate. Protesters gathered on La Rambla and other major streets in the centre of Barcelona minutes after they were announced. Trains between Girona and Flaçà have been disrupted after demonstrators gathered on the railway tracks.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “These politicians have been jailed for seeking to allow the people of Catalonia to peacefully choose their own future. Any political system that leads to such a dreadful outcome needs urgent change. My thoughts and solidarity are with all of them and their families”

READ MORE: Full statement from Catalonia’s Foreign Minister

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said: “That this can happen is an outrage. We stand in solidarity with those who have argued for self-determination for Catalonia and for that ‘crime’ are to be imprisoned. Democracy and the right to self-determination must prevail.

SNP MP and QC Joanna Cherry, said it was a travesty of democracy, adding: “The world and particularly the #EU can no longer ignore what has happened in Spain. It’s disgraceful.”

The ANC has called for public protests against the sentences across Catalonia and other parts of Europe.

One is planned on the Buchanan Steps in Glasgow this evening, and another outside Register House in Edinburgh.