Sacked Catalan leader freed on bail in Belgium

World
Europe

A Belgian judge has granted conditional release to wanted Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his former ministers.

The judge on Sunday also ordered the five, who fled Spain last week after being accused of rebellion and sedition, not to leave Belgium until their extradition case is heard.

They had turned themselves in to face a Spanish warrant for their arrest.

It is the latest twist in the crisis unleashed by the separatists' push to break away from Spain.

Paul Bekaert, the lawyer representing sacked Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, leaving the Belgian prosecutors office in Brussels, Sunday. /Reuters Photo

'Fair and impartial' process

Puigdemont and his allies escaped to Belgium last Monday after Spain dismissed the Catalan executive and imposed direct rule on the semi-autonomous region following the declaration of independence by the parliament there last month.

"They were taken into custody at 9:17 a.m. (0817 GMT)," said Gilles Dejemeppe, a spokesman for Belgian prosecutors.

AFP reporters said they witnessed a white van believed to be carrying Puigdemont racing out of the Belgian prosecutor's office around 15 hours later.

"The request made this afternoon by the Brussels' Prosecutor's Office for the provisional release of all persons sought has been granted by the investigative judge," said the statement by the prosecutor's office shortly afterwards.

The next court hearing will be in the following 15 days. Belgium has up to 60 days to decide whether to send the Catalans back to Spain.

Puigdemont's PDeCAT Party said Sunday that he had turned himself in to show his "willingness not to flee from the judicial process but to defend himself in a fair and impartial process, which is possible in Belgium, and highly doubtful in Spain."

Puigdemont wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he and his colleagues – Meritxell Serret, Antoni Comin, Lluis Puig and Clara Ponsati – would cooperate with the Belgian authorities.

People hold banners reading "Free Political Prisoners" during a gathering in support of members of the dismissed Catalan cabinet outside Barcelona's town hall, November 3, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Spain issued European arrest warrants on Friday after Puigdemont and his allies ignored a summons to appear before a judge on allegations linked to the move to declare Catalonia an independent republic.

The judge in Madrid had on Thursday put Puigdemont's deputy and seven other deposed regional ministers behind bars because of a risk they would flee.

Puigdemont, 54, insists that Catalonia earned the right to declare independence following a banned referendum last month and has described his detained colleagues as "political prisoners."

On Sunday, protesters in Catalan cities took to the streets to demand their release.

Source(s): AFP