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Carles Puigdemont turns himself in to Belgian police Carles Puigdemont in custody in Belgium after turning himself in
(about 4 hours later)
The ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four associates have turned themselves in to Belgian police, the Brussels prosecutor’s office has said. Catalonia’s ousted president, Carles Puigdemont, and four of his former ministers are in Belgian custody awaiting a decision on their possible extradition to Spain to face charges of sedition and rebellion after turning themselves into police.
Puigdemont is in custody awaiting a decision by the Belgian federal prosecutor on whether to execute Spain’s European arrest warrant and send him back home to face charges of sedition and embezzlement. The five presented themselves to the federal judicial police in Brussels at 9.17am on Sunday, after which they were questioned by an investigative judge, who has 24 hours to decide whether to order their formal arrest.
A spokesman for the prosecutor said in a press conference in Brussels that the five men would be questioned on Sunday afternoon. The secessionist politicians fled to Belgium on Monday after the Spanish authorities removed Puigdemont and his cabinet from office for pushing ahead with a declaration of independence following an illegal referendum.
The investigating judge has 24 hours to make a decision on whether to execute the European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish government and start the process of deportation or dismiss it, most likely on the grounds that the Belgian state does not recognise similar charges. From his self-imposed exile, Puigdemont claimed he would not receive a fair trial in Spain, but promised to cooperate with the Belgian justice system.
The judge could also execute the warrant but free Puigdemont who has the right to appeal, a process that could take 30 days to complete. The judge must make a decision by 9.17am on Monday morning, 24 hours after the former Catalan leader handed himself in. The Belgian secretary of state for migration, Theo Francken, a Flemish nationalist, had just a day before their arrival suggested that it was realistic to think that Belgium could offer the Catalan leadership political asylum.
Puigdemont has been in Brussels since Monday having declared Spain’s courts as politicised. Gilles Dejemeppe, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor, said the Belgian authorities had been in contact with the Catalan separatists before they gave themselves up to the authorities on Sunday morning.
On Saturday, from self-imposed exile, the deposed regional president launched an online petition yesterday to establish a broad secessionist coalition, the day after Spain issued an international warrant for his arrest. The investigating judge’s options, he said, now ranged from “refusal to execute the European arrest, arresting the people involved, releasing them on conditions or under bail”.
Spain has called fresh elections in which Puigdemont has announced his intention to stand. Only the five, their lawyer and an interpreter were present at Sunday’s hearing. It is understood they chose to have the proceedings heard in Dutch.
Earlier, two polls suggested pro-Catalonia independence parties would together take the most seats in December’s regional election although they may fall just short of a majority needed to revive the secession campaign. On Friday, the Spanish government issued European arrest warrants against Puigdemont, Antoni Comín, Clara Ponsatí, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig for trying to “illegally change the organisation of the state through a secessionist process that ignores the constitution”.
Parties supporting Catalonia remaining part of Spain would divide seats but garner around 54% of the vote, the polls suggested. The formal charges, punishable by 30 years in prison, are rebellion, sedition, embezzlement of public funds and disobedience to authority, for their role in organising the referendum on Catalan independence on 1 October.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, called an election for 21 December after firing the previous government and imposing direct rule over the autonomous region following a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalan lawmakers on 27 October. It is up to the Belgian authorities to decide whether they recognise the charges and whether they will execute Spain’s European arrest warrant. From arrest to extradition, the entire process could take up to three months to complete, including time for likely appeals.
According to a survey of 1,233 people published in La Vanguardia newspaper, pro-independence parties ERC, PDECat and CUP would take between 66 and 69 seats in the 135-seat parliament. Such a delay would give Puigdemont the opportunity to participate in the snap regional election called by Spain’s government for Catalonia on 21 December.
A second poll for the conservative newspaper La Razón showed pro-independence parties would capture the most votes though still fall just shy of a parliamentary majority with 65 seats. A senior official of Puigdemont’s party, the centre-right Democratic party of Catalonia, said on Sunday this was the party’s intention.
Other seats would be generally divided between parties supporting the region continuing to be part of Spain, but the parties are not allied. A spokesman for the Spanish government, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, has said that any politician can run in the election unless he or she has been convicted of a crime.
Catalonia’s push for independence has tipped Spain into its worst political crisis since its return to democracy four decades ago, as surging pro-secession sentiment in the region has in turn kindled nationalism across the country. Pro-union parties are seeking to rally support to win back control of the regional parliament in Barcelona, while pro-secession parties are debating whether or not to form one grand coalition for the upcoming ballot. The parties have until Tuesday to register as coalitions or they must run separately.
Catalonia’s former regional president Artur Mas told Catalan public television on Sunday that he backed a fusion of parties for the December vote.
He said the main goals must be to recover the self-rule of the region and the release of the jailed separatists rather than pursue independence.
Mas said: “Under these exceptional circumstances that our country is going through, don’t we have to substitute the normal and logical competition for the cooperation we all need?
“If we add the issue of independence, we won’t get as many people to support us.”
An opinion poll published by Barcelona’s La Vanguardia newspaper on Sunday forecasts a tight electoral race between the parties for and against Catalonia severing its ties with the rest of Spain.
The poll predicts that pro-secession parties would win 66-69 seats. They won 72 two years ago. Sixty-eight seats are needed for a majority.
In a sign of the growing headache the crisis is causing the Belgian coalition government, the country’s deputy prime minister, Jan Jambon, from the Flemish nationalist party, questioned Spain’s handling of the crisis in Catalonia and suggested the EU should intervene.
“When the police hit people, we can still ask questions,” he said. “When the Spanish state has locked two opinion leaders, I have questions. And now the Spanish government will act in the place of a democratically elected government?
“Members of a government are put in prison. What have they done wrong? Simply apply the mandate they received from their constituents.”
Spanish prosecutors are investigating 20 regional politicians for rebellion and other crimes that could be punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
On Thursday, nine of Puigdemont’s sacked cabinet were ordered by Spain’s high court to be held on remand pending an investigation and potential trial. One member of the dismissed cabinet, Santi Vila, was freed after paying bail of €50,000 on Friday.