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Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont held by German police Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont held by German police
(35 minutes later)
The lawyer for the fugitive former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont says that he is being held by German police. German police have detained the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont as he crossed from Denmark into Germany.
Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas has confirmed that German police stopped Puigdemont on Sunday when he was crossing the border to enter from Denmark. He says Puigdemont is at a police station. On Friday the Spanish government reactivated an international arrest warrant for Puigdemont, who is wanted on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds.
Alonso-Cuevillas says Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium where he has been staying since fleeing Spain following a failed bid by his regional government in October to declare independence from Spain. The former president, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Brussels since last October, was in a car on the way from Finland to Belgium when he was detained. Spain sent a request to the Finnish authorities to detain Puigdemont, who was on a visit to promote the Catalan independence cause.
However, the request was written in Spanish and there was a delay while the Madrid authorities had it translated into English. In the meantime, Puigdemont left the country.
In a statement on Sunday morning Puigdemont’s press officer said: “Carles Puigdemont has been detained in Germany as he crossed from Denmark en route to Belgium. He has been properly treated throughout and is right now in a police station. He was on his way to Belgium where he would be, as always, at the disposal of Belgian justice.”
According to German media reports, the arrest took place following a tip-off from Spain’s intelligence agency to German federal police’s Sirene bureau – part of a network of information-sharing units for national police in the Schengen area. The website of German news weekly Focus reported that Puigdemont was arrested on a motorway heading towards Hamburg.
Puigdemont faces up to 25 years in prison in Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition for organising an illegal referendum for Catalonia that led to a unilateral declaration of independence in October.Puigdemont faces up to 25 years in prison in Spain on charges of rebellion and sedition for organising an illegal referendum for Catalonia that led to a unilateral declaration of independence in October.
A Spanish supreme court judge reactivated an international arrest warrant for Puigdemont on Friday when he was visiting Finland.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for five other Catalan separatists.
Carles PuigdemontCarles Puigdemont
CataloniaCatalonia
SpainSpain
GermanyGermany
EuropeEurope
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