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ARCHIVED - Former Catalan president Puigdemont released by Italian court
Puigdemont celebrates his freedom and accuses Spain of using him for its own ‘political objectives’
The Italian appeals court in Sardinia released former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Monday October 4 without charge and has in addition announced a suspension of the European arrest warrant against him until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rules on his immunity as a parliamentarian. The former president was arrested in Sardinia on September 23.
The decision of the Italians goes directly against Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena, who stated that the euro order was indeed still active, and although the Spanish government expected Puigdemont to be extradited to Spain, Pedro Sanchez agreed last month to respect whatever decision Italy arrived at.
Puigdemont was president of the regional government in Catalunya until October 2017 when he ordered an illegal secret referendum and proclaimed the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI) of the region, a decision which was overturned by the central government in Spain within the hour. As a result, the Catalan government was dissolved, Puigdemont and his ministers were fired and the leader himself faced charges of sedition and embezzlement of public funds.
He fled to Brussels, and is expected to shortly return there, but since his release in Italy Puigdemont has reiterated his intention to return to Catalunya to dismantle the current government, revealing only that he will make his move “soon.”
In a statement following his release the former president accused the Spanish justice system of trying to use the situation to achieve political objectives and insisted that the only way they would achieve his extradition would be to break the law. “What will they do? Will they kidnap me?” he joked.
Puigdemont must now await a ruling on whether his European arrest warrant is indeed valid, something which his lawyers predict will happen in the coming weeks.
Image: Carles Puigdemont Twitter
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