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The exiled Catalan former President Carls Puigmont has lived in Belgium since 2017 and visited Sardinia when he was detained.
The exiled former Catalan President Karls Puigmont was arrested in Italy. His lawyer and an aide said he fled Spain four years after Madrid ruled that the independence referendum violated the Constitution.
The member of the European Parliament (MEP) is expected to appear in court on Friday to attend the hearing, when he may be extradited to Spain to face charges of sedition.
The Catalan leader-who has been working in Belgium since the 2017 referendum-was detained in Alghero, Sardinia, his chief of staff Josep Luis Allé wrote on Twitter on Thursday .
“When he arrived at Alghero airport, he was arrested by the Italian police. Tomorrow [Friday], He will appear before the judge of the Sassari Court of Appeal, and the judge will decide whether to let him go or extradite him,” Allais said.
Puigdemont’s lawyer Gonzalo Boye wrote on social media that the exiled separatist leader was arrested when he arrived in Italy while he was traveling as a member of the European Parliament.
He said that the arrest was based on an arrest warrant issued in October 2019, which has been suspended.
Puigmont, 58, was accused of inciting rebellion and wanted in Spain for trying to get Catalonia out of Madrid during the 2017 referendum.
He was arrested a week after the left-leaning Spanish government and the Catalan regional authorities resumed negotiations to find a solution to Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
Immunity is cancelled
In March, the European Parliament cancelled the immunity of Puigdemont and two other pro-independence members of the European Parliament, and the EU General Court upheld this decision in July.
However, the decision of the European Parliament is under appeal, and the European Court of Justice has not yet made a final ruling.
After being arrested on Thursday, Madrid expressed “respect for the decisions of the Italian authorities and courts”.
The Spanish government said in a statement: “The arrest of Mr. Puigmont is in accordance with an ongoing judicial process and applies to any EU citizen who must respond to the court.”
The statement added that Puigmont should be “submitted to justice like any other citizen.”
President and Ministry of Environmental Protection @KRLS After arriving at the airport tonight, he was arrested in Algour, Sardinia, although there was no active EAW against him. Either the Italian police made a mistake, or the Spanish Supreme Court lied to the European Court of Justice. scandal. #FreePuigdemont
-Janne Riitakorpi (@JanneRiitakorpi) September 23, 2021
‘persecution’
Catalonia’s new president, Pere Aragones, is a separatist, but more moderate than his predecessor, condemning what he called the “persecution” of Puigdemont.
“In the face of persecution and judicial suppression, the strongest condemnation. It must stop,” he wrote on Twitter.
He added that “self-determination” is “the only solution.”
In addition to Puigmont, former Catalan regional ministers Toni Coming and Clara Ponsati are also wanted by Spain for suspicion of inciting a rebellion.
The October 2017 referendum was held by the leadership of Catalonia’s separatist region in disregard of the Madrid ban, and the process was disrupted by police violence.
A few weeks later, the leadership issued a brief declaration of independence, prompting Puigdemont to flee abroad.
Others who remained in Spain were arrested and tried.
Puigdemont, however, did not benefit from the pardon in June for nine pro-independence activists detained in Spain.
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