The Prosecutor’s Office has requested the instructor of the process, the judge of the Supreme Court (TS) Pablo Llarena, to reactivate the euro order against the former Catalan councilor Lluís Puig, prosecuted for disobedience and embezzlement for the illegal referendum of October 1, 2017.
In a letter from this same Tuesday, the prosecutors of the process – Javier Zaragoza, Fidel Cadena, Jaime Moreno and Consuelo Madrigal – also asked to reactivate the international search and arrest order “in case it were necessary to process an extradition request.”
Llarena annulled these arrest warrants when reviewing the processing of 1-O fugitives due to the entry into force of the reform that repealed sedition and modified embezzlement.
In Puig’s case, the instructor was aware of two things. Firstly, the response of the CJEU to the preliminary question that he raised to determine the scope of the European orders (OEDEs) after the Belgian judges refused to hand over the former counselor.
This matter was resolved on January 31, when the CJEU established that the judicial authorities that receive the EAWs cannot refuse to execute them based on alleged violations of fundamental rights if systemic and widespread deficiencies are not demonstrated in Spain.
Secondly, the TS magistrate was waiting for his new indictments – which in Puig’s case meant changing sedition to disobedience – to be final.
The Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court endorsed Llarena’s criteria on June 13, so since then the Prosecutor’s Office could have demanded the reactivation of the arrest warrants against Puig beyond our borders.
However, the sources consulted by Europa Press point out that the Public Ministry was also waiting for the TGUE to decide on the European parliamentary immunity of former president Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín, something it did on July 5 to withdraw it. Although this sentence did not affect Puig, as he was not a member of the European Parliament, the Prosecutor’s Office preferred to move forward as a group.
Shortly after the European ruling, on July 24, the procés prosecutors asked Llarena to also reactivate the European and international arrest warrants against Puigdemont and Comín, prosecuted for sedition and embezzlement.
The instructor responded that he will not make a decision on the matter until the CJEU rules on the possible precautionary measures that the defenses of Puigdemont and Comín can request to see their parliamentary immunity provisionally restored.
And the defense of both has already announced that they would appeal the ruling of the TGEU before the CJEU, a challenge where they will foreseeably incorporate said precautionary request, having until this Friday, September 15, to do so.
Although the TGUE ruling also affects Ponsatí, since she has been prosecuted solely for disobedience, it is not possible to issue a new European order against her because it is a crime without a prison sentence.
It should be remembered that Llarena has maintained the national arrest warrants against the 1-O fugitives, a decision that has been appealed before the Constitutional Court (TC).
