justice
EU court dismisses Puigdemont’s lawsuit over immunity
Fled abroad with other members of the government to avoid prosecution and now lives in Belgium: Carles Puigdemont. photo
© Martial Trezzini/KEYSTONE/dpa
“The EU Parliament made the right decision,” said the judges. Separatist leader Carles Puigdemont suffers a legal setback against having his immunity lifted.
The Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont has suffered defeat before the EU court. The judges in Luxembourg dismissed the lawsuit against the lifting of his immunity by the European Parliament.
The European Parliament decided in 2021 to lift the immunity of Puigdemont and two of his fellow campaigners after the Spanish judiciary issued an arrest warrant requesting that the immunity be lifted. The background was an illegal independence referendum and the subsequent decision to secede from Spain in autumn 2017.
The regional president at the time, Carles Puigdemont, fled prosecution abroad with other members of the government and now lives in Belgium. He was elected to the EU Parliament in 2019, along with a fellow campaigner. However, their names were not on the list of candidates elected in Spain because they had not taken the required oath under the Spanish Constitution. Their seats have therefore been declared vacant and all their rights as MPs have been suspended until they take the oath.
Puigdemont and his colleague opposed the lifting of immunity before the EU court. But the lawsuit dismissed that. The Parliament had decided correctly: the Spanish court proceedings had not been initiated to interfere with their work as MPs. According to the judges, Parliament does not have to check whether the decision of the Spanish judiciary is lawful before making its decision. Puigdemont can still appeal against the decision.
Press release of the EU court