Yesterday at 16:33
Photo from Ukrinform–UATV
The fugitive former President of Catalan, Carles Puigdemont, was arrested by German police, while attempting to cross the border from Denmark, UNN reported.
“President Carles Puigdemont was held in Germany when he crossed the border from Denmark, on his way to Belgium from Finland,” said his lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas.
Puigdemont has been living in exile following a failed attempt by his regional government to declare independence from Spain. A Spanish Supreme Court judge reactivated an international arrest warrant for Puigdemont, on Friday, when he was visiting Finland. Puigdemont was in Finland to promote Catalan’s independence.
On Sunday afternoon, Puigdemont was transferred to Neumuenster prison in Northern Germany.
The detention threatens to worsen the Catalan crisis that flared last year, when the region made a symbolic declaration of independence, prompting the Spanish government to take direct rule.
Spain’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday that 25 Catalan leaders would be tried for rebellion, embezzlement and disobeying the state, and reactivated the international arrest warrants for Puigdemont and four other politicians, who went into self-imposed exile last year.
The Higher Regional Court in Schleswig-Holstein will be responsible for deciding whether to grant Spain’s extradition request. Puigdemont could take his case to Germany’s highest court, which in 2005 blocked the extradition of a German-Syrian Al-Qaeda suspect to Spain. Puigdemont is expected to take German representation. The whole legal process, including appeals, is likely to take months. Puigdemont has previously made clear his preference to fight the extradition process from Belgium, where the former Catalan leader was heading to at the time of his detention
