Spanish judge jails Catalan ministers, mulls leader’s arrest
MADRID — A Spanish prosecutor asked a judge Thursday to issue an international arrest warrant for the former president of Catalonia and four of his ministers after they failed to appear in a Madrid court for questioning about their efforts to break the region away from Spain.
Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and his 13-member Cabinet were among those summoned to Spain’s National Court. Puigdemont surfaced in Belgium on Tuesday with some of his ex-ministers, saying they were seeking “freedom and safety” there. He and four of the officials remained in Brussels on Thursday.
Asked whether Puigdemont would turn himself in if the arrest warrant is granted, his lawyer in Belgium, Paul Bekaert, told The Associated Press: “Certainly. Or the police will come get him.” Bekaert said Puigdemont intends to co-operate with Belgian police.
Meanwhile, the same judge, Investigative Magistrate Carmen Lamela, sent eight former Catalan Cabinet members to jail without bail and ordered another to be held pending a $74,690 bail payment.
The ruling was made at the request of prosecutors after the nine were questioned at the National Court in Madrid. Under Spain’s legal system, investigating judges can order the detention of suspects while a comprehensive probe, sometimes taking months, determines if charges should be brought.
Also Thursday, six Catalan lawmakers appeared for a parallel session in the Spanish Supreme Court. They were given a week to prepare their defences and instructed to return for questioning on Nov. 9.
In all, 20 regional politicians are being investigated on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement for a declaration of secession the Parliament of Catalonia made on Oct. 27. The crimes are punishable by up to 30 years in prison under Spanish law.
Lawyers for the jailed officials said they plan to appeal Lamela’s order. Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, who represents former regional Vice-President Oriol Junqueras and four more of the ousted Cabinet members, said the judge’s decision to send them to jail “lacked justification” and was “disproportionate.”
Spain took the unprecedented step of triggering constitutional powers allowing it to take over running Catalonia following the region’s declaration of independence. Madrid dismissed the Catalan Cabinet, dissolved the regional parliament and called a new regional election for Dec. 21. Junqueras, in a tweet sent shortly after the judge’s decision jailing him for pushing Catalonia’s secession, called on Catalans to vote in the election.
In Barcelona, the Catalan regional capital, thousands rallied outside the regional presidential palace in Sant Jaume Square to show their support for the pro-secession politicians.