Belgian judge to decide next phase in fight between Spain, separatists
BRUSSELS — The fight between Spain and Catalonia’s separatists reached a Belgian judge on Sunday after the region’s deposed leader and four ex-ministers surrendered in Brussels to face possible extradition to Madrid for allegedly plotting a rebellion.
Hours after former Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont and the others turned themselves in to Belgian authorities, Puigdemont’s party put him forward as its leader for an upcoming regional election called by the Spanish government — meaning he could end up heading a campaign from Brussels while he fights a forced return to Spain.
Belgian judicial authorities now have to make a decision rife with diplomatic implications for fellow European Union members Spain and Belgium and political consequences for Catalonia, the restive Spanish region fighting Madrid for independence.
The five Catalan politicians who fled to Belgium after Spanish authorities removed them from office on Oct. 28 were taken into custody Sunday on European arrest warrants issued after they failed to show up in Madrid last week for questioning.
A Belgian investigative judge has 24 hours after their voluntary surrenders — until 9:17 a.m. local time today — to decide whether to jail them or let them stay free in Belgium while the extradition process runs its course.
The judge also has the option of not detaining them but imposing conditions on their freedom, such as orders to remain in Belgium, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gilles Dejemeppe told The Associated Press.
Dejemeppe said the extradition process could take more than 60 days, well past the Dec. 21 date set for the regional election in Catalonia.
Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo has said that any politician can run in the election unless he or she has been convicted of a crime.
Puigdemont and the four ex-ministers left for Belgium last week as the Spanish government, seeking to quash Catalan separatists’ escalating steps to secede, applied constitutional authority to take over running the region.