Puigdemont, a temporarily free man; Italian judge suspends decision

The Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont will not be delivered by Italy to Spain for the moment. The Italian judges were due to take a decision on this today. But first they want to wait for the decisions of the European Court of Justice.

Puigdemont left the Sardinia court this afternoon and said he was very satisfied with the decision. He can go wherever he wants at the moment. Puigdemont shook hands with dozens of supporters and then disappeared in a van.

wait

Spain wants to prosecute the former Catalan president for having organized the referendum on independence in 2017. But according to Puigdemont Agostinangelo Marras’ lawyer, the Sardinian court first wants to wait for two decisions from European judges.

First, according to Marras, Italian judges want to know how European judges judge Puigdemont’s political immunity. In recent years he has been politically inviolable as a member of the European Parliament. But this immunity was lifted by the European Parliament earlier this year at the request of Spain.

The European judge was initially unwilling to reverse the ruling, but now that handing over to Spain is apparently a possibility, Puigdemont has once again called on the judges to restore his political immunity.

Legitimate

In addition, according to Marras, it is first necessary to know whether the arrest warrant of the Spanish Supreme Court is legitimate, the Court of Justice of the European Union is also examining this question.

Puigdemont was arrested last month while visiting a cultural festival in Sardinia. After his arrest he was paroled and remained in Brussels. Today he returned to Sassari on the Italian island to hear the court decision.