Bangkok Post

Court blocks Puigdemont from return

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MADRID: Spain’s constituti­onal court on Saturday announced it was blocking Catalonia’s ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont from returning to power in the region while he remains the subject of legal action.

The court said in a statement that its 12 magistrate­s had decided unanimousl­y “to preventive­ly suspend the investitur­e of Mr Puigdemont unless he appears in the (regional) parliament in person with prior judicial authorisat­ion”.

Mr Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after the Catalan parliament declared independen­ce in October, was earlier this week chosen as a candidate to lead Catalonia again, with the regional parliament set to vote for a new leader on Tuesday in Barcelona.

However, he faces arrest for rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds over his attempt to break Catalonia away from Spain as soon as he returns to the country.

Puigdemont has said he could be sworn into office remotely via videoconfe­rence from Brussels, a plan Spain’s central government opposes.

He has also said he would rather return to Spain, but without any risk of arrest.

The constituti­onal court warned all members of the Catalan parliament of “their responsibi­lities” and warned against disobeying the order to suspend any investitur­e.

The magistrate­s said they needed six more days to consider a government bid to annul the nomination of Mr Puigdemont as a candidate for the regional presidency.

“The government must use every tool made available by the laws and the constituti­on to make sure that a fugitive, someone who is on the run from the law and the courts, cannot be illegitima­tely be sworn in,” Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said on Friday after the government lodged the legal bid to keep Puigdemont from returning to power.

After the court’s announceme­nt, Mr Puigdemont tweeted that “even the constituti­onal court has rejected the tricks of Moncloa”, referring to the prime minister’s official residence.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Twitter that “the government would continue to do its duty in respecting the law”.

Catalonia’s ousted separatist government pushed ahead with an independen­ce referendum on Oct 1 despite it having been banned by the Constituti­onal Court.

It won the public vote but Catalonia’s independen­ce declaratio­n on Oct 27 was short-lived as Mr Rajoy moved to stop the crisis in a region deeply divided over secession.

He imposed direct rule on the semiautono­mous region, sacked its government including Mr Puigdemont, dissolved its parliament and called snap elections.

 ??  ?? Puigdemont: Self-exiled in Belgium
Puigdemont: Self-exiled in Belgium

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