Axed Catalan
separatist leader Carles Puigdemont arrived Monday for an extradition hearing
in Belgium as Spain seeks to have him sent back to face sedition charges over
his region’s independence drive.
A judge
sitting behind closed doors in Brussels will hear from lawyers for Puigdemont
and four of his former ministers, who all fled to Belgium in October despite a
summons to appear in court in Spain, claiming they would not get a fair trial.
Prosecutors
last month asked the judge to approve the European arrest warrant issued by
Madrid for the five in the opening round of what could become a protracted
courtroom battle.
A police
source said Puigdemont and the others had arrived for the hearing, which comes
on the eve of the official start of campaigning for December 21 elections in
Catalonia.
Madrid wants
the polls to “restore normality” to the wealthy northeastern region, which
declared independence unilaterally following a hotly disputed October 1
referendum.
Puigdemont’s
lawyer said at the weekend he will remain in Belgium until after the elections.
“No matter
what, they will be (in Brussels) till at least December 21 and according to my
calculations this could go on till mid-January,” lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas
told Catalan radio Rac1, referring to Puigdemont and the four former ministers.
“I am
convinced that no matter what happens they will have recourse to an appeal,”
the lawyer said.
Legal
tangle?
Spanish
prosecutors want to prosecute Puigdemont and his former ministers for rebellion
— which carries a maximum 30-year jail sentence — and sedition for their role
in the independence drive, as well as for misusing public funds.
Meanwhile a
Spanish Supreme Court judge is set to decide whether or not to free 10 other
separatist leaders who were jailed pending a probe into their role in the
Catalan independence drive.
Any release
on bail would mark a turn in the election campaign, particularly for separatist
parties who have repeatedly accused Madrid of taking “political prisoners” and
“repression” after their attempt to declare unilateral independence fell flat.
Puigdemont
and his cadres say the charges against them are politically motivated and as
both sides are likely to appeal if the judge rules against them in the
extradition hearing, the case could drag on for months, according to the
Belgian justice minister.
Christophe
Marchand, lawyer for two of Puigdemont’s ex-ministers, told AFP that “the facts
as written in the arrest warrant are not punishable under Belgian law”, saying
the case was an attempt to punish a “political process that passed off
peacefully”.
After
Monday’s hearing the court is expected to make its ruling in eight to 10 days,
according to the Brussels prosecutor’s office.
A spokesman
for Puigdemont said Friday he would “respect the schedule” of the Belgian legal
process.
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