MADRID — In another twist in the conflict over Catalonia, a Spanish judge on Tuesday withdrew an international arrest warrant for the region’s ousted leader, making clear he was doing so only to guarantee that every former member of the Catalan separatist leadership would be prosecuted strictly.

After Catalonia’s failed unilateral independence bid, the former leader, Carles Puigdemont, left for Belgium, where he remains along with four other former members of his cabinet, setting up a potential struggle for their extradition.

Even before Tuesday’s U-turn by the Spanish judge in Madrid, it was unclear whether the Belgian judiciary would agree to turn over the politicians.

But Judge Pablo Llarena of Spain’s Supreme Court indicated that he was acting to pre-empt the possibility that the Belgian judiciary would at the very least seek to limit the crimes for which Mr. Puigdemont and the others could be charged if they were returned to Spain.