Spain Issues European Arrest Warrants for Carles Puigdemont

Spain has issued European Arrest Warrants (EAW) for ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and four of his allies who went to Belgium.

The five failed to attend a high court hearing in Madrid on November 2 when nine other ex-members of the regional government were taken into custody.

One of those detained has been freed on bail of €50,000 ($58,000).

They all face charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for pursuing Catalan independence.

Carles Puigdemont has said he will not return to Spain unless he receives guarantees of a fair trial.

Belgium will “study” the warrant, a spokesman for the state prosecutor told AFP.

The regional parliament in Catalonia voted to proclaim an independent republic on October 27, following an illegal referendum on independence organized by the Catalan government on October 1.

No other country recognized the move and Spain’s central government moved swiftly to impose control, using emergency powers under the constitution.

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Carles Puigdemont was the president of the autonomous region of Catalonia until the proclamation of independence and continues to regard himself as the president of the newly proclaimed “Republic of Catalonia”.

The ousted and his colleagues travelled to Belgium to raise their case for statehood at the EU institutions and he insists he is not trying to evade “real justice”.

During an interview with Belgian TV, aired on November 3, Carles Puigdemont that he would co-operate with Belgian judicial authorities.

He also said that he was ready to run in snap regional elections in Catalonia next month.

The other four warrants are for: ex-agriculture minister Meritxell Serret, ex-health minister Antoni Comín, ex-culture minister Lluís Puig and ex-education minister Clara Ponsatí.

The warrants were sent to Belgian prosecutors, who have 24 hours to decide whether the paperwork is correct.

If they do, they will forward them on to a judge who will decide whether Carles Puigdemont and the four others should be arrested.

Belgium has a maximum of 60 days to return the suspects to Spain after arrest. However, if the suspects do not raise legal objections, a transfer could happen much sooner.

A country can reject an EU arrest warrant if it fears that extradition would violate the suspect’s human rights.

Discrimination based on politics, religion or race is grounds for refusal. So are fears that the suspect would not get a fair trial.

There is an agreed EU list of 32 offences – in Article Two of the EAW law – for which there is no requirement for the offence to be a crime in both countries. In other words, any of those offences can be a justification for extradition, provided the penalty is at least three years in jail.

However, neither “sedition” nor “rebellion” – two of the Spanish accusations against the Catalan leaders – are on that list.