The former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, appeared Monday morning before the Italian justice for his extradition case requested by Spain. While Madrid waits to get their hands on public enemy number 1, the proceedings in Italy have come to a halt, as they are now asking for the European ruling on the accused’s parliamentary immunity.
Italian justice suspended the proceedings against the former Catalan president at the time when it had to judge whether it could process the European arrest warrant filed against him by Spain, which is seeking his extradition.
Arrested by the Italian police on October 23, after having landed at Alghero airport (and released the next day) Carles Puigdemont, appeared before the Italian courts but the latter deemed it necessary to know first if the accused could recover his immunity as an MEP.
He had been identified on board a Ryanair flight thanks to the centralized passenger information system of the Shengen space, and his appearance comes because he was arrested in that territory.
However, the outcome of this trial set by the Sardinian appeal does not seem to worry him more than that despite Madrid’s strong desire to see the Italian justice extradite him so that it can try him for the 2017 cessation attempt he orchestrated.
But there is little chance that this will happen given that the crime for which he is accused, sedition, is not part of the penal code in Italy, therefore the Italian justice cannot, according to the procedure, extradite for this crime.
Before deciding, the Italian justice seeks to have the final say on the status of European deputy of Puigdemont who lost his parliamentary immunity on March 9 by a vote in the European Parliament. A decision that was confirmed on July 30 by the General Court of the European Union.
Carles Puigdemont has filed an appeal with European justice asking him to resume his immunity as a European parliamentarian that he has had since 2019.
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