A German court on Thursday ruled that former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont can be released on bail pending a decision on his extradition to Spain, finding that the most serious accusation against him is not punishable under German law.
The state court in the northern town of Schleswig said it set conditions including a 75,000 euros (US$91,739) payment for the 55-year-old to leave prison. It was not immediately clear when he would be released.
“We will see each other tomorrow. Thank you all!” Puigdemont said on Twitter.
Photo: AFP
Puigdemont was detained on a European arrest warrant shortly after entering Germany on March 25. He was trying to drive from Finland to Belgium, where has been living since fleeing to escape arrest in Spain. He has been held at a prison in Neumuenster, Germany.
Spanish authorities accuse Puigdemont of rebellion and misuse of public funds in organizing an unauthorized referendum last year on Catalonia’s independence from Spain.
German prosecutors earlier this week said that the main charge of rebellion is equivalent to Germany’s criminal offense of treason.
German law calls for prison sentences for anyone who “undertakes, by force or through threat of force” to undermine the republic’s existence or change its constitutional order.
However, the court disagreed, saying Puigdemont cannot be extradited for rebellion.
It found that the accusations against Puigdemont do not satisfy the precedents set by previous German rulings, which call for a use or threat of force sufficient to bend the will of authorities.
“Rebellion is the most serious, having the heaviest punishment. It means that if he is extradited for other things, that he can never be prosecuted for rebellion in Spain,” Puigdemont’s Belgian defense lawyer Paul Bekaert said.
“Again a signal has been sent to Spain’s justice system that they are going the wrong way,” he told Belgium’s VRT network.
Judges are to consider Puigdemont’s extradition on the less serious charge of misusing public funds, meaning that he only could face trial for that if he were returned to Spain.
They said that there was no indication he could be “exposed to the danger of political persecution.”
The court said that because Puigdemont cannot be extradited for rebellion he posed less of a flight risk and could be released on bail.
If Puigdemont makes the bail payment and leaves prison, he cannot leave Germany without prosecutors’ approval, must inform prosecutors of every change of residence and report to police once a week, court spokeswoman Frauke Holmer said.
In response to the German court’s ruling, a Spanish official said the government in Madid respects judicial decisions “always, when it likes them and when it doesn’t.”
“Spanish justice will adopt the appropriate measures in the face of these new circumstances,” said the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
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