Italian court suspends case against Puigdemont pending EU ruling

An Italian court has suspended proceedings against exiled ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont pending the outcome of an EU ruling.

Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia and a member of the European Union parliament, was briefly arrested in Sardinia in September. He had been invited to attend a Catalan cultural event and a meeting of independence sympathisers on the Mediterranean island.

At a hearing on October 4 his legal team said Puigdemont has immunity as a member of the European Parliament. His immunity was lifted earlier this year, but Puigdemont has appealed.

His arrest is the result of the active search and capture order that had been issued by Judge Pablo Llarena on October 29, 2017.

Puigdemont fled Spain for exile in Belgium in 2017 after he declared Catalan independence. “The arrest of Puigdemont is due to an ongoing judicial procedure that applies to any citizen in the European Union, who must answer for his actions before the courts,” the government of Spain insists.

Puigdemont says the charges against him are politically motivated.

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