Spain issues arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader
Reuters | Posted: November 3, 2017 7:20 PM | Last Updated: November 4, 2017
Carles Puigdemont says he will run in snap election
Spain on Friday issued an arrest warrant on sedition and other charges against Carles Puigdemont, tightening the judicial net around the former Catalan leader who went to Brussels after his government was sacked over a declaration of independence.
A Madrid High Court judge asked Belgium to arrest Puigdemont and four associates after they ignored a court order to return to Spain on Thursday to answer charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust relating to their secessionist campaign.
The judge rejected a request from Puigdemont to testify via video conference from Belgium. His lawyer has said he did not trust Spanish justice, though he would co-operate with the Belgian courts.
In Brussels, a federal prosecutor said Belgian authorities would study the warrant before handing it to a judge. "We will give it to an investigative judge, maybe tomorrow or the day after," Eric Van der Sypt told Reuters.
Belgium may take 3 months to decide
Belgium will have a maximum of three months to decide whether to send Puigdemont back to Spain.
Nine members of his dismissed cabinet were ordered to be held in custody on Thursday pending an investigation and potential trial.
Earlier on Friday Puigdemont said he was ready to stand in a snap election in the region next month.
"I am ready to be a candidate … it's possible to run a campaign from anywhere," Puigdemont told Belgian state television RTBF, referring to the election called by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy following the unilateral independence declaration.
"We consider ourselves a legitimate government. There must be a continuity to tell the world what's going on in Spain.… It's not with a government in jail that the elections will be neutral, independent, normal."
General strike called for Nov. 8 in Catalonia
In protest at the jailings, Catalan civic groups Catalan National Assembly and Omnium Cultural — whose leaders were imprisoned last month on sedition charges — called for a general strike on Nov. 8 and a mass demonstration on Nov. 11.
Another six Catalan leaders are due to testify on Nov. 9 on the same charges.
One member of the dismissed cabinet, Santi Vila, was released after paying bail of 50,000 euros ($74,000 Cdn) on Friday. The other eight were not given bail and could remain in custody without trial for up to four years.
Vila stepped down from the Catalan cabinet before Friday's independence declaration, and while he remains a supporter of secession, he has been advocating a negotiated solution with the central government.
He has said he wanted to stand as the leading candidate for Puigdemont's PdeCat (Catalan Democratic party) in the regional election.
Poll finds pro-independence parties would win majority
The detention of the secessionist leaders and Puigdemont's flight to Belgium have given a new boost to the secessionist camp after cracks appeared in its ranks.
Thousands of people staged pro-independence protests on Thursday night in Barcelona and several Catalan towns, and parties forming the current coalition Junts Pel Si (Together For Yes) are pushing to run again on a joint ticket at the Dec. 21 election.
An opinion poll published on Tuesday showed Junts Pel Si would win the December election with 35.2 percent if the vote was held today and would likely reach a parliamentary majority if it stuck with its current pact with far-left party CUP.
Facing such a prospect, the Spanish government said on Friday it would have no option but to open talks within the law with those who held a majority.
"We could offer a new dialogue so that we can fulfill Catalans' aspirations for more autonomy and look into reforming the constitution," Foreign Affairs Minister Alfonso Dastis told French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview.
"Some even mention the idea of a federal model so that regions can have more autonomy, including financially."