A Spanish judge has issued a European arrest warrant against the sacked president of Catalonia and his four advisers that travelled to Belgium to avoid inflaming the delicate political situation back home.
The Belgian authorities confirm that they have received the court order and promise to study the Madrid request.
The judge granted the request from the Spanish Public Prosecutor to issue a European arrest warrant against Carles Puigdemont, Antoni Comín, Clara Ponsatí, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Piog who missed a court appointment in Spain, triggering the arrest warrnt.
Carles Puigdemont and the councilors are accused of rebellion, sedition, embezzlement, prevarication and disobedience, after setting up an illegal referendum on whether or not Catalonia should be independent of Spain.
In the arrest warrant, Judge Carmen Lamela considers that Carles Puigdemont and his government took advantage of their position "to carry out an independence referendum to achieve the secession of Catalonia."
"To that end, they have promoted and used intimidating and violent forces from the pro-independence sectors of the population, calling for insurrection and defying constitutional order," she said, adding that Puigdemont is continuing to promote independence, even though he is no longer the president and not in the country.
For Puigdemont, the judge has reserved special treatment via an order that he be arrested on sight and held in prison pending extradition. Carmen Lamela justified her decision by saying that the president "is missing and was not located at home," even though she knows full well where he is.
The Spanish court had rejected a request from Carles Puigdemont and his former councilors that they could make statements by videoconference.
"We are going to study the request and we will pass it on to an investigating judge, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow," said Eric Van der Sypt, a spokesman for Belgium’s prosecutor's office.
On Thursday, the same judge ordered the arrest of nine Catalan government officials, all close to Carles Puigdemont, including the former regional vice-president, Oriol Junqueras.
In an interview on Belgian public television a few hours before the arrest warrant was issued, Puigdemont explained that he wants to respond to the Belgian courts and not to the Spanish justice system, one of the reasons he travelled to Belgium last week.
Puigdemont also has guaranteed that he will stand for the December 21 elections, convened by the Mariano Rajoy government, after the unilateral declaration of independence for Catalonia provoked Rajoy to activate Article 155 and take over Catalonia’s government.
