Prosecuted in Spain for his role in the attempt to secede from Catalonia in 2017, Catalan independence leader Carles Puigdemont landed in Brussels on Monday, September 27, after being briefly arrested in Italy, told Agence France-Presse his lawyer. “He is in Brussels and will return to Sardinia on Sunday” to attend a judicial hearing next Monday on his extradition demanded by Spain, said Gonzalo Boye.
Based in Belgium, where he fled in 2017 to escape prosecution by Spanish justice, the 58-year-old former Catalan regional president was arrested Thursday evening on his arrival at Alghero airport, in Sardinia. , where he was to participate in the Catalan Adifolk festival. He was released Friday evening after pledging to return to the Italian island for the extradition hearing.
MEP since 2019, Mr. Puigdemont announced on Saturday that he would have to return to Brussels to attend a meeting of the European Parliament’s foreign trade committee, of which he is a member.
Accused of “sedition” and “embezzlement of public funds”
Spanish justice accuses Mr. Puigdemont of “sedition” and “embezzlement of public funds” for his role in the 2017 secession attempt, one of the worst crises experienced by Spain since the end of the Franco dictatorship, in 1975. Despite the ban on justice, his regional government then organized a self-determination referendum followed, a few weeks later, by a stillborn declaration of independence.
Madrid reacted by dismissing Mr. Puigdemont, putting the region under control and arresting the main leaders of the independence movement who had not fled abroad. In March 2018, the Catalan leader had already been arrested for the first time at the request of Spain, in Germany this time. But he was released a few days later.
As an MEP, Puigdemont enjoyed parliamentary immunity for a time, but the European Parliament lifted it on March 9 by a large majority. This measure was confirmed on July 30 by the European Union (EU) court. However, the European Parliament’s decision is the subject of an appeal, the final judgment on the merits of which by the EU courts is due at a later date.
His lawyers therefore consider that Parliament’s decision is “Suspended”, just like the application of the arrest warrant, and that their client must still benefit from his immunity.
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