The Prosecutor’s Office will once again demand that the process instructor Pablo Llarena reactivate the European arrest warrant against the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont once it has been confirmed that he is no longer protected by parliamentary immunity.
According to tax sources explained to La Vanguardia, in an initial meeting between the prosecutors in the case they have agreed that once they analyze the TGUE ruling and if there is no legal impediment that prevents it, they will demand that Llarena start a new process of handing over the former president to be tried in Spain for the process.
Before presenting the formal request, the prosecutors must analyze the resolution of the European justice that rejects all the reasons presented by Puigdemont’s defense and endorses the decision of the European Parliament to suspend the former president’s immunity due to his status as an MEP.
The TGUE validates the position of the European chamber to allow Puigdemont to be tried in Spain, understanding that the legal case for which he is claimed does not imply political persecution. Among other points, he acknowledges that the pro-independence leader was prosecuted a year before obtaining his MEP act.
Likewise, the TGUE endorses the competence of the Supreme Court, one of the axes on which the lawsuit was based to try to stop the criminal case pursued in the Supreme Court. Since November 2017, the Spanish justice system has been calling on Puigdemont to face a case for which twelve pro-independence leaders have already been convicted.
The ex-president’s defense, represented by the lawyer Gonzalo Boye, has announced that he will appeal the sentence before the Court of Justice of the European Union and will again request precautionary measures to be protected with immunity until the new court decides.
Prosecutors are analyzing whether this resource can paralyze the OED. In the absence of a more in-depth study, a priori they consider that the appeal is not suspensive and, therefore, Llarena may initiate the claim so that Puigdemont can be handed over for the crimes of embezzlement of public funds in its aggravated modality as well as that of disobedience.
The Prosecutor’s Office is waiting for the instructor to transfer him for a report and thus be able to present his brief with his position. Currently, the former president resides in Belgium and therefore it will have to be the justice of this country that initiates the delivery process.
Given the doubts that they have shown over the years to proceed with the extradition, Llarena has already submitted a preliminary ruling before the CJEU to establish the reasons why a European country can reject the surrender claimed by another EU country.
Both with the CJEU’s response and the TGUE ruling, the Supreme Court considers that Belgium will have little room for maneuver to reject the handing over of the independence leader to Spain.
Likewise, if once the OED is reactivated, the former president decides to leave Belgium for any other EU country, he may be arrested to start a handover process once the TGUE has endorsed that he no longer has parliamentary immunity.
