The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has unanimously upheld the national, European and international arrest warrants issued by the Supreme Court against Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, while the Catalan government speaks of “the international absurdity of Spanish justice.”
The TC decision came the day after the Court of Appeal in Sassari, Italy, postponed Puigdemont’s extradition process until the European Court of Justice ruled on his immunity and a preliminary question posed by Justice of the Peace Pablo Llarena. The TC rejected appeals by Puigdemont and former ministers Anthony Comin, Clara Ponsati and Luique Puig against the Supreme Court ruling, which agreed to issue arrest warrants.
Carles Puigdemont, who was elected MEP but whose parliamentary immunity was removed, was arrested on 23 September upon arriving at Alghero airport in Sardinia, where he flew from Brussels to participate in a Catalan folklore festival. The decision is in line with the European arrest warrant requested by the Spanish Supreme Court.
Puigdemont was taken to the Sassari maximum security prison, where he remained for less than 24 hours until the local appeals court allowed him to temporarily leave the prison without any precautions or movement restrictions. Spanish Supreme Court Magistrate Pablo Llarena, who is prosecuting the former president of Catalonia in Spain, asked the Sassari Court of Appeal to agree to the transfer of the policy to Spain, as preliminary actions do not suspend the European order. which is “active” and the MEP is not immune.
Catalan government spokesman Patricia Playa, quoted by EFE, stressed “international ridicule of Spanish justice“, after this new episode of” European discrediting “of the Spanish state, and called for an” immediate end to the repression “against independence. Also, former Minister Ponsati sneered in statements to TV3 about “Ridiculous” attempts, while unsuccessful, on the part of the magistrate Llarena to obtain the extradition of Puigdemont.
Despite the ban on courts, the regional government of Catalonia, chaired by Puigdemont, held a referendum on territorial self-determination on October 1, 2017, which was marked by police violence, followed by a referendum a few weeks later. declaration of independence.
The Spanish government, then led by the People’s Party (right), then placed the region under the direct tutelage of Madrid and arrested key independence leaders who had not fled abroad.
