BELGIAN judicial authorities have suspended the arrest warrant targeting exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont because of his immunity as a European lawmaker, his lawyer said.
Paul Bekaert said the Belgian judge in charge of the case also suspended the warrant issued against former Catalan cabinet member Toni Comin.
The two are wanted in Spain for their role in the holding of an independence referendum by the Catalan parliament in October 2017, a vote Spanish authorities deemed illegal. They fled to Belgium after the vote was treated as a high crime by the Spanish authorities. They were elected to the European Parliament in May as representatives of Catalan independence parties.
READ MORE: European court rules Catalan politician should have immunity
Puigdemont posted on Twitter: “Belgian justice recognises our immunity and decides to suspend the arrest and extradition warrant!
“But now we are still waiting for the release of [Oriol Junqueras], who has the same immunity as us. Spain must act in the same way as Belgium has done and respect the law.”
Last month, the European Union’s top court overturned a decision preventing Puigdemont and Comin – whose extradition hearing had already been postponed to February 3 – from taking their European Parliament seats. It is not clear, however, if they will finally be allowed to take them.
The ruling angered Spain, with the nation’s state prosecutors asking a Spanish judge to maintain the international arrest warrants.
READ MORE: Fresh calls to free Catalan indy leader Oriol Junqueras
“The investigative judge has decided to suspend the procedure of the European warrant following the decision of the European Court of Justice,” said Bekaert.
“The European Court has ruled they have immunity.”
Last month the European Court of Justice, said earlier this month he was entitled to parliamentary immunity from the time the European election result was declared in May, a ruling that triggered calls for his immediate release.
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