Madrid, May 30, (dpa/GNA) – The Spanish parliament on Thursday passed a controversial amnesty for Catalan separatists after months of political wrangling in Madrid.

The “Law for institutional, political and social normalization in Catalonia” was approved by 177 votes to 172 in the Congress of Deputies, Spain’s lower chamber. It will come into force in the next few days after publication in the government gazette.

The bill has seen heated debates and several votes in both houses of parliament since November, when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reached a deal with two separatist Catalan parties to support his re-election in return for the amnesty.

It is set to apply to around 400 activists and politicians who faced legal consequences for their involvement in Catalonia’s pro-independence movement, which reached a high point in late 2017 with an illegal independence referendum.

Among the beneficiaries is Carles Puigdemont, the former regional president, who has been living in exile in Belgium since Madrid cracked down on the separatist movement following the referendum.

Several separatists who remained in Spain were sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years, although they have since been pardoned. Only a small number of crimes, including terrorism, are excluded from the amnesty.

The bill has caused months of turmoil in Spain. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the conservative People’s Party, called it a “national disgrace” and an “international embarrassment,” accusing Sánchez of buying his re-election with the amnesty.

Sánchez has defended the policy as helping to defuse tensions in Catalonia, amid signs the separatist movement is weakening.

Parliamentary elections in the north-eastern autonomous community on May 12 saw pro-independence parties lose their absolute majority for the first time since 1980. Sánchez’s Socialist Party won the most votes and seats in the Barcelona parliament.GNA