MADRID, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A judge freed two puppeteers jailed for glorifying terrorism after staging a violent puppet show that referred to Basque militant group ETA, legal documents from Wednesday's court ruling showed.
The pair have been in custody since Saturday for staging the show "The Witch and Don Cristobal" as part of Madrid's carnival celebrations. Children and adults were shown scenes depicting the hanging of a judge and the rape of a nun later stabbed to death with a crucifix.
The arrests kicked off a war of words across the Spanish political spectrum. Some criticised the leftist mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, whose office paid for and promoted the show. Others accused Spain's legal system of over-reacting.
Politicians, locked in weeks of talks aimed at forming a coalition government after inconclusive elections in December, also waded into the debate.
"It is ridiculous that in a democratic country someone could be in jail for a piece of theatre," the leader of the anti-austerity Podemos party, Pablo Iglesias, told Cadena Ser radio.
The interior minister for the acting centre-right People's Party (PP) government, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, supported the arrests, saying the puppeteers' reference to ETA glorified the militants and humiliated victims.
ETA has killed more than 800 people over several decades in its campaign to establish a Basque state in northern Spain and southern France.
The judge had said the arrests were due to one puppet holding up a sign referring to ETA.
The "glorification of terrorism" is a crime under Spanish law.
The state prosecutor recommended to the judge that Raul Garcia, 34, and Alfonso Lazaro, 29, be freed since they do not pose a flight risk, according to documents seen by Reuters.
However, he said the pair would still have to make daily appearances before the court and would not be allowed to leave the country. (Reporting by Angus Berwick; Editing by Sonya Dowsett and Katharine Houreld)
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