The European General Court rejected on Friday the claim of the former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and his supporters, demanding a suspension of the decision to deprive them of parliamentary immunity
BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2021) The European General Court rejected on Friday the claim of the former head of the Catalan government, Carles Puigdemont, and his supporters, demanding a suspension of the decision to deprive them of parliamentary immunity.
"The Vice-President of the European General Court rejected the claim to suspend the deprivation of parliamentary immunity for Carles Puigdemont, Toni Comin, and Clara Ponsati," the court said.
The court explained that it did not see any confirmation of the fears of Puigdemont and his colleagues that the Belgian authorities or the authorities of another European country could arrest the deputies and hand them over to the Spanish authorities.
However, the decision is not final and can be challenged in other instances.
On March 9, the European Parliament voted to revoke the parliamentary immunity of Puigdemont, Comin, and Ponsati, sought by Spain for holding an unauthorized referendum on Catalan independence in 2017.
In late May, the three politicians, deprived of their immunity, challenged the decision in the European Union Court of Justice, pointing to the threat of arrest and further imprisonment.
Puigdemont fled to Belgium at the end of 2017 together with Comin and Ponsati, while former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras and other leaders of the Catalan movement stayed in Spain, where they were sentenced by the Supreme Court to between nine and thirteen years in prison.
Puigdemont was arrested in Germany in 2018 on a warrant issued by Madrid. After the arrest, Puigdemont spent twelve days behind bars in Germany while the authorities were considering his extradition to Spain. Neither Germany nor Belgium ended up extraditing the former Catalan leader.
