Catalonia independence: Spanish supreme court says arrest warrant likely for exiled president Carles Puigdemont
President of court says such a warrant would be 'normal'
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Your support makes all the difference.A Europe-wide arrest warrant will likely be issued for the disputed and exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, the president of Spain's supreme court has said.
The president, whose regional government has been deposed by Madrid, has fled to Belgium and has declined to return to Spain to attend a court hearing for charges of sedition and rebellion.
Spanish authorities say Mr Puigdemont and other members of his government broke the law because of their calling an independence referendum for Catalonia and a subsequent declaration of independence.
Speaking in Madrid on Thursday court president Carlos Lesmes said: "When someone doesn't appear after being cited by a judge to testify, in Spain or any other EU country, normally an arrest warrant is issued."
In a statement the exiled Catalan government, which has had its powers suspended by Spanish authorities, denounced the “political trial” which it said was “without a legal basis that only seeks to punish ideas”.
He said he and his colleagues would remain in Brussels “not to evade justice but to demand it”, criticising the court’s planned “disproportionate penalties equivalent to murder or terrorism”.
Mr Puigdemont spoke to a packed press conference in Brussels on Tuesday where he said the Spanish government was intent on seeking “vengence” against him.
Though he has said he will not formally claim asylum in the country, the president has hired a Belgian lawyer with experience in resisting extradition attempts.
The lawyer, Paul Bekaert, told Spain’s TV3 channel: “He will not go to Madrid and I have suggested that he be questioned here in Belgium.”
The Madrid government has called snap Catalan regional elections for 21 December in order to elect a new Catalan parliament, after the current one voted to declare independence.
The Catalan separatists have said they will accept the result of the polls.
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