The future of former president Carles Puigdemont and the former ministers who fled will be decided this Wednesday in Luxembourg. The General Court of the European Union (TGUE) will issue a ruling on the immunity of the Catalan politician, in a decision that is key in the case since this is his best shield against the Euro-orders imposed by the Supreme Court judge, Pablo Llarena. Puigdemont’s defense, for its part, ensures that there is still a long way to go in the judicial process.
The supreme court will announce this Wednesday its final decision on the lifting of Puigdemont’s immunity by the European Parliament in response to the request to hand over Llarena to Spain and on whether the procedures were carried out properly. In the oral hearing held in November, the lawyer for the European Parliament maintained that the community institution had an “extremely open” deal with the independence leader and that it “probably” allowed him to occupy his seat “illegally”, since he did so without being appointed MEP in Spain.
The defense of the former Catalan president and of the politicians fled by the ‘procés’ alleges that they suffer “political persecution” and that the European Parliament did not give “sufficient and adequate” reasons for its decision to withdraw European parliamentary protection from Puigdemont. Pending the decision of the TGUE, the defense of the pro-independence politician may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the event that the ruling is unfavorable.
If the TGUE finally endorses the request and the withdrawal of immunity, Judge Llarena should reactivate the Euro-orders and re-initiate the arrest and surrender process in Belgium which, according to the Supreme Court, would no longer have reasons to refuse the delivery of Puigdemont. The defense of the former Catalan president, for his part, defends that the process should start from scratch and reprocess the petition and the withdrawal of immunity in the European Parliament, since after the reform of the Penal Code, the Spanish Justice demands the pro-independence politicians for embezzlement and not for sedition, as it did at the beginning.
In the event of receiving a favorable sentence and recovering his European parliamentary immunity, Puigdemont plans to return to Spain, risking being arrested. And it is that Judge Llarena defends that he can order provisional detention with or without immunity for a crime of embezzlement, punishable by up to eight years in prison.
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