Carles Puigdemont spent a night in a cell

SFollowing the new European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish courts on Monday, Carles Puigdemont spontaneously appeared on Thursday morning at the Brussels public prosecutor's office to be auditioned. He was accompanied by his lawyer Paul Bekaert, who has been advising him since the beginning of his exile in Belgium at the end of 2017.

"Carles Puigdemont presented himself on his own initiative," says his entourage. "He came out on Friday morning and went home to Waterloo." But he was still deprived of liberty for a few hours and spent the night from Thursday to Friday in a cell. What was not said at first.

During his hearing, Mr Puigdemont invoked his parliamentary immunity linked to his election as a Member of the European Parliament (although he does not sit in the EP) and refused to extradite him to Spain. The prosecutor's spokesman said Friday afternoon at a press conference that the judge in charge of the file had made the necessary checks around this immunity; finally to come to the conclusion that Mr. Puigdemont did not benefit.

Elected in the last European elections last May, the former Catalan minister-president is not a European deputy because his election was not endorsed by the Spanish government. To do this, he should have returned to Spain … where he was immediately arrested.

According to prosecutor Denis Goeman, the judge (from a Dutch-speaking chamber) finally decided to let Mr. Puigdemont go free on Friday morning, as had been decided in the two previous European judgments (2017 and 2018). However, he was released under conditions. Mr Puigdemont must remain at the disposal of Belgian justice "at any time", while the latter is analyzing the new European arrest warrant. As a rule, he can not leave the country unless he applies to the judge and the judge grants him leave.

This third MAE issued by the Spanish courts first arrived in Belgium in Spanish version on Tuesday. The translations in national languages ​​arrived Thursday, earlier than expected since we were talking about the first week of next week.

The public prosecutor's office stated that the designated judge would now analyze the arrest warrant on the merits and then send the case to the council chamber. It is up to her to decide whether or not to execute this European arrest warrant. The hearing is scheduled for October 29 at 9 am According to his lawyer, the charges contained in this third EAW written by Judge Pablo Llarena of the Supreme Court are "embezzlement of public funds" and "sedition". In the context of a European arrest warrant, the reasons for the prosecution must be compatible between the two countries concerned. This was not the case for the first mandate issued in November 2017.

On Monday, the Spanish Supreme Court sentenced nine Catalan independence leaders to between 9 and 13 years' imprisonment for "sedition" and, for some, "embezzlement" and "misappropriation of public funds". At the same time, it issued a new European and international arrest warrant against the former Catalan president for the ephemeral attempt at secession in October 2017.