Judge drops extradition requests for 6 Catalans

madrid — A Spanish Supreme Court judge on Thursday dropped his extradition requests for six Catalan separatist politicians wanted on rebellion charges, including ex-regional president Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont fled to Belgium after an October 1 referendum to avoid arrest and then eventually travelled to Germany, where he was taken into custody in March.

The moves came after a German court recently ruled Puigdemont couldn’t be sent back to Spain for rebellion, only for misuse of public funds. Rebellion carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison in Spain, while misuse of public funds is a lesser charge that carries up to 12 years.

Judge Pablo Llarena said in a decision published on Thursday that he’s revoking the international arrest warrants against the six, in what the Catalan separatist movement was likely to regard as a major victory against Spain’s central authorities.

The charges are in connection with the Catalan regional government’s unauthorised referendum on independence from Spain and a subsequent unilateral declaration of independence by the separatistcontrolled regional parliament.

A German court last week said it would allow Puigdemont’s extradition on charges of embezzlement. But it said that the Spanish charge of rebellion is not recognised in Germany.