CARLES Puigdemont, the deposed president of Catalonia, was still in Brussels last night with no plans to appear before Spain’s Supreme Court today, according to his lawyer in Belgium.
All 14 members of the sacked Catalan Cabinet were summoned to appear in court to answer possible rebellion charges for driving the October 1 referendum campaign to a declaration of independence.
Spain’s chief prosecutor is seeking charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement against Puigdemont and his number two, Oriol Junqueras. If found guilty they could face decades in jail. Speaking on Dutch TV, lawyer Peter Bekaert said the Catalan leader could be questioned in Belgium, but he would not be in court today.
He said: “I have experience in other cases, such as the Basques. There are cases in which there have been interrogations, here with the local police.
“There is no law that says that you can be deprived of freedom for not going to testify. He is not going to Madrid and I suggested that they question him here in Belgium. It is possible, but I don’t know yet if it happens, but it is possible.”
Bekaert said no arrest warrant had been issued for Puigdemont at this stage and his client was “fine and he is self-confident”.
Bekaert told a Belgian television network that “as things look now, I cannot see him going back in the next few weeks”, adding that if Spain seeks Puigdemont’s extradition it would be up to Belgian judges, not the government, to make a decision on it.
Yesterday was a bank holiday in Madrid, and there was no immediate reaction from the National Court.
Puigdemont, though, appeared confident yesterday, and tweeted: “One month from the #CatalanReferendum of #1Oct. Despite the violence and past and present threats, we continue to work.”
Four of the original six dismissed ministers who are in Brussels with Puigdemont and who were due in a Spanish court today also asked to testify from Belgium. The others have returned to Barcelona.
Sources close to members of the government there said they planned to appear in court as ordered.
Puigdemont went to Brussels after the Spanish government triggered unprecedented measures under Article 155 of the constitution – the nuclear option – to take control of Catalan affairs after the Catalan Government declared the north-eastern state independent from Spain.
In Spain, the European Parliament deputy and spokesman for the country’s ruling Popular Party, Esteban Gonzalez Pons, said if Puigdemont failed to appear before the court today, “there’ll probably be an extradition petition to Belgium and Belgian police will detain him”.
He told a Spanish radio station that Puigdemont’s lawyer in Belgium would likely be able to prolong the case until after the new Catalan election called by Spain for December 21.
Sacked Foreign Affairs Minister Raul Romeva said he was notified at 10:45am yesterday to appear before the Madrid court. He tweeted: “Today I received the summons to appear in less than 24 hours at the National Court. State of law? Consciousness very calm.”
Meanwhile, a German journalist has revealed the “lines to take” on Catalonia, sent by Spain to other EU members after the referendum.
Markus Preiss, who is Brussels correspondent and bureau chief for ARD German TV, revealed on Twitter: “‘Here are the lines we ask you to include.’ Spain sends proposal for wording on #Catalonia to EU.”
He also posted an image of the note, which read: “1. (Name of the country) does not and will not recognise in any form the illegal unilateral declaration of Independence issued today in the Catalan regional Parliament.
“2. We condemn it as a blatant breach of the rule of law, Democracy and the Spanish Constitution which is part of the EU legal framework.
“3. We trust the Spanish Government and its democratic institutions to restore the rule of law and the constitutional order to guarantee the freedoms and rights of all its citizens.”
The Catalan Defence Committee Scotland (CDCS) has launched a local campaign in solidarity with jailed Catalan civic leaders Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart – and called for their release.
Sanchez, 53, is a left-wing political science professor and president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), while Cuixart, a 42-year-old high-school dropout and entrepreneur, heads Omnium Cultural –which counts Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola among its members.
The ANC was founded in 2012 to achieve Catalan independence through “democratic and peaceful means”.
Omnium Cultural was set up in 1961 to defend the Catalan language, after its public use was banned under the Franco dictatorship.
CDCS said: “We want people here to write to the two Jordis, to show them there are people across Europe campaigning for their release, at this address: Centro Penitenciario Madrid V, Soto del Real (Madrid).”
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