MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2023) Spain's Supreme Court said on Thursday it had decided to postpone issuing a European arrest warrant for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont until the Court of Justice of the European Union rules on his parliamentary immunity.
"Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena today agreed that the motions of the Prosecutor's Office and the public prosecution will renew the European and international arrest warrants against the defendants, Carles Puigdemont and Antoni Comin, but stipulated that a decision on them will be taken when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decides on possible precautions that both may take to temporarily restore their parliamentary immunity," the court said in a statement.
The CJEU's July 5 decision, which rejected the defendants' appeals against the European Parliament's decision to grant the judge's request against both, can be appealed by September 15, according to the statement.
Puigdemont, who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019, said earlier this month that neither he nor his colleague Comin would attend the plenary session of the parliament in Strasbourg for fear of being arrested.
In early July, the EU Court of Justice's General Court dismissed the requests of the former Catalan leader and his associates Comin and Clara Ponsati to have their parliamentary immunity restored.
Puigdemont, as well as several former members of his government, left Spain immediately after Catalonia's illegal declaration of independence by the regional parliament in October 2017. They were subsequently placed on national and European wanted lists. In May 2019, Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati were elected to the European Parliament.
