The Prime Minister said the decision was taken with the aim to boost reconciliation efforts between Catalonia and the rest of Spain, said a CNN report

The decision also confirmed to the Spanish Constitution and is best for Catalonia and for Spain, Sanchez noted.

He also said that the government doesn't want to to encourage confrontation and instead wishes to work on fostering understanding with Catalonia, the report informed.

News agency Reuters has reported that opinion polls show more than half of Catalan population wants independence from Spain while about 60 per cent of Spaniards are against releasing the nine leaders.

Catalonia is the wealthy North Eastern region and its capital is Barcelona.

According to media reports, the region has been clamouring for independence from Spain for a long time.

The nine leaders, including former vice-president Oriol Junqueras, were arrested in the autumn of 2017 soon after the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence from Spain.

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Spain's then conservative government decided to take temporary control of the region by exercising its extraordinary powers to dismiss its government, triggering clashes between the protestors and the police.

Since Constitution does not allow any of the 17 regions to unilaterally declare independence, the nine leaders were convicted and sentence to 9 and 13 years of imprisonment for their roles in the failed uprising.

However, the pardons do not apply to Catalonia's former President Carles Puigdemont, who escaped to Belgium in 2017 along with his close aides after the government of Spain took control of the region.

Sanchez said that the pardons granted were "conditional" and will be applicable on the nine "not committing" serious crimes for a certain period of time.