On Tuesday, December 5, 2017, the Spanish judge withdrew the European arrest warrants for Carles Puigdemont (the ousted leader of Catalonia) and four members of his former cabinet. According to the report our correspondent gathered, Pablo Llarena (Supreme Court judge) said on Tuesday that the offenders have shown their intention to return to Spain and that since the alleged crimes were committed by a wider group according to evidence, that individual European warrants do not apply anymore. Carles Puigdemont and his four former cabinet members who are being sought for crimes related to the independence bid in northeastern Catalonia are fighting for extradition from Belgium. Former cabinet members of Puigdemont’s government including Oriol Junqueras (Vice President) who remained in Spain were jailed on provisional charges after National, European and International arrest warrants were issued on November 3, 2017 for their roles in staging an illegal independence referendum in October 2017 which led to an independence declaration in Catalonia’s parliament. The crimes (rebellion, sedition and embezzlement) which Carles Puigdemont and his members allegedly committed are punishable in Spain with decades in jail.
Source: Viewers Corner News.