Spanish judge issues arrest warrant for sacked Catalan leader

MADRID - Sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has said that he was willing to cooperate with Belgium's Justice system. "We are ready to fully cooperate with Belgian court regarding the EU arrest warrant delivered by Spain," Puigdemont wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

He made the remarks after Spanish High Court judge Carmen Lamela on Friday issued a European arrest warrant for him and four former members of his cabinet who were responsible for pushing for secession for Catalonia from Spain.

Having already sent nine former members of Puigdemont's government to prison on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of funds, Lamela added "disobedience" and "prevarication" to those charges for Puigdemont and other four members who fled to Belgium and are currently in hiding there, but their exact whereabouts are yet to know.

The warrant means Puigdemont and the other four former members of his government will have to be arrested and appear before a judge in Belgium.

The Belgian prosecutor's office said it has received Spain's arrest warrant and state prosecutors were examining it on Sunday.

Puigdemont's lawyer in Brussels had previously said that his client plans to fight extradition to Spain without requesting political asylum.

Legal experts estimated that the process from arrest to extradition, including appeals, could take as long as two months before Puigdemont would be sent back to Spain.

Santi Vila, the only former member of the deposed Catalan government who was offered the chance of bail by judge Lamela, was released on Friday on $58,050 bail.

The other eight members, including former Catalan deputy leader Oriol Junqueraswere were held in custody without having bail set.

Meanwhile, the High Court rejected the appeal of the leaders of pro-Catalan independence groups, Omnium Cultural and the Catalan National Assembly, against Judge Lamela's decision taken on Oct 17 to remand them in custody without bail pending investigation on charges of sedition.

Sedition carried a maximum prison sentence of 25 years in Spain, while the Spanish media said that the former members of the Catalan government could face jail terms of up to 50 years if found guilty on all counts.

Spain's rich Catalonia autonomous region held a referendum on self-determination on Oct 1, and declared its independence by the former Catalan regional government on Oct 27. But it was declared illegal by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Catalan leader Puigdemont and his cabinet and announced new elections in the region on Dec 21.

Economic loss

The frustrated unilateral independence declaration of Catalonia has already damaged tourism and deterred investment.

About 2,000 companies representing more than 30 percent of Catalan employment had changed their legal headquarters from the region to other places in Spain.

The central bank of Spain has warned that the economic growth of the country could be affected if the constitutional crisis in the Catalan region gets worse.

Spain could lose up to $31.35 billion, according to the data of the bank's latest Financial Stability report.

Enric Millo, the Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, said on Thursday that he was "convinced" that new elections called for the Catalan region on Dec 21 would put an end to the ongoing crisis.

Millo said he hopes the new Catalan regional government will "develop its ideas, whatever, their colors, within the current legal framework".

Xinhua - AP

(China Daily 11/06/2017 page11)