Carles Puigdemont back to Waterloo next week

"It is logical that Mr Puigdemont should come back to Brussels. The capital of Europe is a better place to conduct its actions than the (German) Schleswig-Holstein, "says Bekaert. "Presumably, he will return next week to Waterloo, to the address where he has previously stayed."

"It is clear that the decision of the Spanish Supreme Court to withdraw the international arrest warrant has not been pronounced by pure charity, "adds the lawyer. "The problem is that the Spanish justice could no longer prosecute Mr. Puigdemont for rebellion, and therefore sentence him to a long sentence."

In practice, the withdrawal of the international arrest warrant means that Carles Puigdemont can go to foreigner without risk of being prosecuted. A return to Spain is however not possible because the Spanish arrest warrant is still in force.

The withdrawal of the international arrest warrant follows a decision taken by the German justice last week. The latter agreed to hand over Puigdemont to Spain for misappropriation of public property, but not for rebellion. This last prevention could have sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

The Spanish judge in charge of the investigation of the attempted secession of Catalonia, Pablo Llarena refused that the former Catalan president is surrendered for this first offense and has withdrawn the European arrest warrants and internationals against six Catalan rulers

Carles Puigdemont accumulates judicial troubles since the referendum on the independence of Catalonia in October 2017. According to Spanish justice, 1.6 million euros of public money has been hijacked to organize the poll, considered illegal.

On March 25, the former President of Catalonia was arrested in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein on a motorway from Denmark, while returned from Finland to Belgium