the independentist Puigdemont joins Brussels to continue his fight

The fight continues for Carles Puigdemont. Limited to the borders of Germany for four months, the leader of the Catalan independence has announced that he will return this weekend in Belgium to establish its base and continue its political activities.

This is the last episode of a nine-month judicial serial: the former president of the Catalan region regained his freedom to move freely last Thursday following the decision of the Spanish justice to lift the warrants European and international judgments against him. He can now travel abroad without risking arrest and extradition, just like five other pro-independence leaders.

Judicial Imbroglio

Wanted by Spain for having proclaimed last October the unsuccessful independence of Catalonia, Carles Puidgemont took refuge for a while in Belgium. On March 25, he was stopped on a German highway after returning from a conference in Denmark. The German justice delivers it ten days later on bail before deciding for his extradition on July 12th.

The story takes an unexpected turn. The court of Schleswig-Holstein accepts to hand over the former president of Catalonia only on the condition that he is judged solely for the offense of "wrongdoing", punishable by 12 years in prison, and not for "rebellion" she may be punished by thirty years of detention.

Dilemma, for the Spanish justice: incarcerate the leader of the Catalan independence only for embezzlement of money, and abandon the more serious charges that would guarantee its final ineligibility? Judge Pablo Lianera preferred to refuse the extradition of Puidgemont under the conditions imposed by Germany. Unpublished, he was therefore forced to suspend the European and international arrest warrants against Puigdemont and five of his political friends.

Independence from Brussels

Carles Puigdemont can now freely stay in the European countries of his choice. It is impossible, however, to go to Spain before the age of 20, the statutes of limitations, under pain of being immediately arrested and incarcerated. Officially. "I do not know if I will have to wait 20 years to set foot in Spain, what I know is that I will not wait 20 years to set foot in Catalonia", badured the former president of the region.

Meanwhile, Carles Puigdemont intends to pull the strings of Catalan independence from Belgium. He intends to establish a "Council of the Republic" to formalize internationally the separatist cause. "It is no longer a Spanish matter that can be solved internally, it takes a European look at the Catalan question" continued the separatist. In Spain, he leads his fight through the voice of his successor named by his hand, Quim Torra, and calls for the new socialist government of Pedro Sanchez a new referendum on the independence of Catalonia.