Italian court suspends Puigdemont hearings pending ECJ ruling

Sassari, Italy, Oct 4 (EFE).- The Court of Appeal of Sassari on the Italian island of Sardinia on Monday suspended proceedings on the extradition to Spain of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont until a European court rules on the pro-independence leader’s immunity, his lawyer in Italy, Agostinangelo Marras, said.

“The Court of Appeal of Sassari has decided to suspend the decision until the European Court of Justice resolves before two questions, the one related to the immunity of President Puigdemont and the one related to the competence of the Spanish judge to issue a procedure like the one he has issued,” Marras told reporters outside the court after the hearing.

Puigdemont, who did not make any statements outside the court, was arrested on September 23 upon his arrival at the airport of Alghero and was transferred to the high security prison of Sassari, although he was released the next day.

Puigdemont fled to Belgium in 2017 after Spain accused him of sedition for calling an independence referendum in Catalonia, which the central government ruled illegal.

He has since lived in Brussels where he sits as a member of the European Parliament since 2019.

In June, Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez pardoned nine other Catalan leaders jailed for sedition for taking part in the referendum.

EFE

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