European court says Belgium may have to extradite Catalan politicians to Spain

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA)- The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Tuesday that Belgium can no longer refuse to extradite Catalan independence leaders to Spain based on its current legal arguments.

The ruling opens the door for the extradition of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and his former ministers, including Lluís Puig and Antoni Comin.

They all escaped Spain in 2017 after leading an illegal independence referendum and a subsequent botched attempt to break Catalonia away from Spain.

Residing in Belgium, they have been able to dodge Spain’s attempts to make them face justice in their home nation, as Belgian courts had refused to carry out the European Arrest Warrants against them.

However, the EU court ruled that Belgium, or any other member state, can only deny the extradition requests if it proves the extradition would lead to the violation of rights, such as that of a fair trial.

The court also says that Belgium can no longer refuse the extradition on the grounds that Spain’s Supreme Court does not have the authority to issue the arrest warrants. In a 2021 attempt to extradite Puig, Belgian authorities said only the Catalan supreme court had the power to issue the warrant.

Likewise, the Catalan politicians have avoided extradition by arguing that the law of sedition, with which they were charged, did not exist in Belgium.

The EU court ruled that “an executing judicial authority does not have the power to refuse to execute a European Arrest Warrant based on a ground for non-execution which arises solely from the law of the executing Member State.”

Belgian authorities could, however, argue that the execution of the warrant would infringe on a fundamental right enshrined in EU law.

At the same time, Puigdemont and Comin are both acting Members of the European Parliament and have provisional immunity. So, it’s not entirely certain if they can be deported.

Puig, the former Catalan culture minister, does not have diplomatic protection.