Carles Puigdemont, a dismissed Catalan president, made another statement on Wednesday. He said he would testify from Belgium and will not return to Spain. That is rather interesting position for the Catalan leader who has to answer charges over the region’s push for independence.
The issue of Catalan independence is still painful for Spain, the government wants to interrogate Carles Puigdemont but he is not going to be back in Spain. From one hand, the separatist urged the Catalan people to vote for the independence from Spain, from another hand, he flees when the situation became dangerous personally for him.
Brave Puigdemont travelled to Belgium at the weekend with other members of the dismissed Catalan administration and hired a lawyer. On Monday, Spain’s state prosecutor filed charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds against Puigdemont for defying the central government by holding a referendum on secession on Oct. 1 and proclaiming independence.
Puigdemont’s reaction to the Spain’s court order
The calls to separatism are unacceptable under Spanish law, the High Court summoned Puigdemont and 13 other former members of the ‘Catalan government’ to testify in Madrid on Thursday and Friday on the prosecutor’s charges. The Catalan leader has another point of view, indeed:
“Those summonses are part of proceedings that lack any legal basis and only seek to punish ideas. This is a political trial,”
Catalan secessionist leader said in a statement signed by “the legitimate government of Catalonia”.
A judge will then decide whether those called to testify should go to jail pending an investigation that could take several years and potentially lead to a trial. The judge might also grant them conditional bail or order them to surrender their passports.
Meanwhile, the separatists’ moves negatively affected the rating of Spain. According to agency Moody, the declaration of independence and all that mess after were credit negative for both the region and the country.
