MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Catalonia leaders released; Belgium has 60 days to decide if they are sent back to Spain
”They were taken into custody at 9:17 am (0817 GMT),” said Gilles Dejemeppe, a spokesman for Belgian prosecutors. 
Puigdemont wrote on Twitter that he and his colleagues, Meritxell Serret, Antoni Comin, Lluis Puig and Clara Ponsati, would cooperate with the Belgian authorities. Catalonia's sacked separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his former ministers were released with conditions in Belgium on Sunday after turning themselves in to face a Spanish warrant for their arrest.
A judge ordered the five, who fled Spain earlier this week after being accused of rebellion and sedition, not to leave Belgium until their extradition case is heard.
It is the latest twist in the crisis unleashed by the Catalan separatists' push to break away from Spain, sending shock waves across Europe.
Puigdemont and his allies fled to Belgium last Monday after Spain dismissed the Catalan executive and imposed direct rule on the semi-autonomous region following the declaration of independence by the parliament there last month.
”They were taken into custody at 9:17 am (0817 GMT),“ said Gilles Dejemeppe, a spokesman for Belgian prosecutors. A white van believed to be carrying Puigdemont raced out of the Belgian prosecutor's office around 15 hours later.
”The request made this afternoon by the Brussels’ Prosecutor’s Office for the provisional release of all persons sought has been granted by the investigative judge,“ said the statement by the prosecutor's office shortly afterwards.
The next court hearing will be in the following 15 days. Belgium has up to 60 days to decide whether to send the Catalans back to Spain.
Puigdemont's PDeCAT party said on Sunday that he had turned himself in to show his ”willingness not to flee from the judicial process but to defend himself in a fair and impartial process, which is possible in Belgium, and highly doubtful in Spain“.
Puigdemont wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he and his colleagues -- Meritxell Serret, Antoni Comin, Lluis Puig and Clara Ponsati -- would cooperate with the Belgian authorities.
Spain issued European arrest warrants on Friday after Puigdemont and his allies ignored a summons to appear before a judge on allegations linked to the move to declare Catalonia an independent republic.
The judge in Madrid had on Thursday put Puigdemont's deputy and seven other deposed regional ministers behind bars because of a risk they would flee.
Puigdemont, 54, insists that Catalonia earned the right to declare independence following a banned referendum last month and has described his detained colleagues as ”political prisoners“.
On Sunday, protesters in Catalan cities took to the streets to demand their release.
In Barcelona, city police said about 350 people gathered on the central University Square, shouting ”Freedom“ and carrying posters that read ”Freedom for political prisoners“. Others stuck posters demanding their release on walls throughout the city.
Puigdemont said he was not convinced by guarantees of a fair trial back home, denouncing the ”enormous pressure and political influence on judicial power in Spain.“
The judge could ”refuse to hand over Puigdemont if there is a proven serious risk to his fundamental rights,“ said Anne Weyembergh, president of the Institute of European Studies at the Free University of Brussels.
Puigdemont, who still describes himself as Catalonia's ”president,“ has also said he is willing to run as a candidate in the December 21 regional election called by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to ”restore normality“ to Catalonia.
”We want president Puigdemont to be the person who leads the big offensive we will carry out on the 21st at the polls,“ said Marta Pascal, a PDeCAT spokeswoman.
She said the conservative, pro-independence party was looking to put together a ”big united list”, a day after Puigdemont himself called for separatists to unite in the election.
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Read all commentsLol. I'd laugh if according to EU human rights law Puggy can't be extradited. But if he does get sent back and put in the clink, this is making Spain look bad. You would think by the furore in Spain that Puggy and his mates were suicide bombers, not people that had declared a different view. Totally over the top from Spain, the facts are that Catalonia has not broken away from Spain, and that if Spain had held an in out referendum it would have been likely that the remainers would have won. Now the separatists will be seen as political prisoners which effectively they are if they are in prison and stoke independence fires even higher. Talk about major mismanagement. British politics can be despaired at but feel grateful, that at least we are nowhere as backward as Spain. It also shows the EU, value the human rights of murderers, and religious clerics that preach hate, but not people seeking democracy though I will be proved wrong if those same rules prevent Puggy's extradition. While this is happening, Spain seem to be quiet on Gibraltar. And after and if this all blows over, if Spain's foreign minister, with his slightly more sensible approach than Margallo to Gibraltar, even imagine that Gibraltar are at any time in the next 5000 years persuaded to join Spain when her laws would do nothing but jail Gibraltarians , just for insisting they have self determination, he's kidding himself. Spain has done little to endear itself to anyone outside it's borders and just shows that the EU political bandwagon is great to escape from.
Nov 07th, 2017 - 11:29 am 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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