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Despite his arrest in Sardinia under the international search and arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, the delivery to Spain of Carles Puigdemont you are still facing an obstacle course. The most imminent is that the General Court of the European Union (CJEU) could restore his immunity as a MEP in the next few days, which he withdrew on July 30.
This is not a mere hypothesis. In the order of July 30, the CJEU itself recommended the former Catalan president, a fugitive from Spanish justice since 2017, to ask for precautionary measures in case of being detained to regain parliamentary protection.
“In the hypothesis that, once this order has been issued, the alleged damage could arise with sufficient probability, in particular in the event of an arrest of applicants by an executing authority of a Member State or the activation of a procedure for its delivery to the Spanish authorities, they would have the possibility of submitting a new request for precautionary measures “, points to the car, signed by the Vice President of the General Court, Savvas Papasavvas.
This demand would be processed through a maximum urgency procedure and the CJEU could accept it even before listening to the other party. In other words, it would be a matter of temporarily restoring Puigdemont’s immunity pending a ruling on the merits of the case, which in any case would oblige the Italian authorities to release him.
Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, has already announced that he plans to use this route. “In the same resolution the vice-president of the General Court indicated that, if necessary, a new very precautionary measure be requested“Boye wrote on his Twitter account.
President Puigdemont has been arrested upon arrival in Sardinia where he was attending as an MEP; This detention is based on the euro order of October 14, 2019, which, by legal imperative – according to the Statute of the CJEU, is suspended.
– Gonzalo Boye (@boye_g) September 23, 2021
The main argument used by the CJEU to deny in July the precautionary measures requested by Puigdemont in order to recover immunity is that the former Catalan president he had not shown that he was at risk of “imminent arrest”. In fact, the Spanish authorities assured the General Court that the Euroorder against him would not be reactivated until there was a ruling on the preliminary rulings presented by Llarena on the action of Belgium in this case. A sentence that still has no fixed date.
“The Spanish authorities have expressly indicated that this request (the question from Llarena to the CJEU) led to the suspension of the national arrest warrants directed against the plaintiffs (Puigdemont and his exconsellers Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí and it implied the suspension of any procedure of execution of a Euro order that could be initiated. They also stressed that no EU court could execute the European arrest warrants in question until the Court has ruled, “explains the July CJEU order.
“In these circumstances, it must be concluded that, as long as the Court of Justice has not ruled (on the Llarena issue), there is no reason to consider that the Belgian judicial authorities or the authorities of another Member State will execute the arrest warrants European laws issued against the plaintiffs and to hand them over to the Spanish authorities “, concludes the CJEU.
Puigdemont’s lawyer alleges that, by forcing Puigdemont’s arrest in Sardinia, the Spanish authorities have failed to fulfill the commitment assumed with the CJEU and the common practice of waiting for the answer to a preliminary question before proceeding with a proceeding.
“President Puigdemont has been arrested upon his arrival in Sardinia where he was attending as a MEP; this arrest is based on the Euro order of October 14, 2019 which, by legal imperative, as established by the CJEU Statute, is suspended. Spain informed the General Court, and this is stated in the resolution of July 30, that no country would execute an order of these characteristics, “says Boye.
Puigdemont, Ponsatí and Comín fled to Belgium in October 2017, after the failed declaration of independence of Catalonia in the Parliament and the application of Article 155. From there they stood for the European elections in May 2019 and in January 2020 they were recognized as MEPs thanks to the controversial ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU (TJUE) about Oriol Junqueras.
Judge Llarena immediately requested the request to the European Parliament, but the application was on hold for months due to the impact of Covid-19. The plenary session of the European Parliament finally approved the lifting of his immunity on March 9, despite the pressure campaign by the Catalan separatists. Puigdemont appealed the decision to the EU Court of Justice, which now has the last word.
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Reference-www.elespanol.com