EXCATALAN LEADER GRANTED FREEDOM TO CAMPAIGN FOR INDEPENDENCE

BRUSSELS/MADRID : Catalonia’s former leader Carles Puigdemont was spared custody on Monday, when a Brussels court ruled he could remain at liberty in Belgium until it had heard Spanish allegations of rebellion against him. The court’s decision means Puigdemont, who left Spain last month after Madrid fired his secessionist government and dissolved the Catalan parliament, is free to campaign for independence for an election in the region on December 21. The vote is shaping up as a de facto independence referendum. Puigdemont’s PDECAT and another secessionist party said at the weekend they might run on a combined ticket, but would need to make a decision on any formal alliance by a deadline of Tuesday.