"Унижение Испании": Ордер на арест Пучдемона отозван
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"Our project, what our voters voted for, is independence. We believe that the best solution for the Iberian peninsula is for, besides Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra, there to be two more states: the republic of Spain and the republic of Catalonia."
"Наш проект, за который проголосовали наши избиратели, - это независимость. Мы считаем, что наилучшим решением для Иберийского полуострова является, помимо Португалии, Гибралтара и Андорры, еще два государства: республика Испания и республика Каталония."
Президент Каталонии Хаим Торра
интервью бельгийскому телевидению
18 июля 2018.
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Как я и предсказывал
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https://pluto9999.livejournal.com/161416.html
Испания: "Такой Пучдемон нам не нужен…"
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Верховный суд Испании отказался от международного ордера на арест и экстрадицию бывшего лидера Каталонии Карлеса Пучдемона.
В то же время остался в силе внутренний ордер, по которому Пучдемон в случае пересечения границы Испании будет немедленно арестован.
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Как заявили в Верховном суде Испании, такое решение принято из-за того, что немецкие власти согласились экстрадировать Пучдемона в Испанию лишь по статье о растрате госсредств, но не по обвинению в мятеже. Таким образом, Пучдемона и его соратников могли судить в Испании только по этому делу. Верховный суд страны счел это недостаточным, поскольку каталонских лидеров в Испании также обвиняют в мятеже. Чтобы сохранить возможность провести процесс именно по этому делу, власти Испании аннулировали международный ордер на арест бывшего каталонского лидера, но не отказались от выдвинутых против него обвинений. Ведущий дело сепаратистов судья Пабло Льярена заявил, что огорчен решением немецкого суда, упрекнув его в "недостатке настойчивости" в преследовании преступников, "a lack of engagement with certain facts that could have broken Spain's constitutional order". По его мнению, немецкий суд вышел за пределы своих полномочий: он не учитывал ни систему принятия решений, предусмотренную Европейским ордером на арест, ни судебную практику Европейского Суда, ни Руководство по Европейскому ордеру, подготовленное Еврокомиссией. Тем не менее, судья добавил, что он не будет стремиться к вынесению решения Европейского суда против немецкого суда об отказе в выдаче за преступление мятежа.
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Также отозваны аналогичные ордера в отношении еще пяти видных каталонских сепаратистов скрывающихся в Бельгии, Швейцарии и Шотландии.
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"Судить главного организатора мятежа за растрату - это все равно, что судить убийцу за то, что он перешёл улицу на красный свет", - заявил мадридский адвокат Артуро Ромеро Диас. Кроме того, осуждение за обычную растрату на срок менее 2 лет в Испании для осужденных впервые предусматривает условный срок, и нет уверенности что испанской прокуратуре удасться доказать растрату Пучдемоном в особо крупных размерах, предусматривающую тюремное заключение. А вышедший на свободу Пучдемон мог снова претендовать на пост главы правительства Каталонии.
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Ассоциация испанских судей Agora Judicial обвинила судью Льярена в неправильном проведении дела об экстрадиии Пучдемона, нанесшем ущерб репутации испанской юстиции: "The external image of the Spanish judiciary cannot afford this kind of actions."
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В ответ на решение Верховного суда Испании Пучдемон заявил о слабости аргументации обвинений со стороны Мадрида. "Отзыв европейского ордера на арест является демонстрацией огромной слабости судебного дела. Отмена превентивного заключения стала бы демонстрацией того, что испанское правосудие начинает действовать как европейское", - написал он в Twitter. "Сегодня как никогда важно требовать освобождения политических заключённых. Отзыв ордера на арест - демонстрация слабости судебных обвинений."
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Отзыв ордера на арест позволяет Пучдемону свободно перемещаться по всей Европе, кроме Испании, что он, наверняка, использует для усиления сепаратистской пропаганды.
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Новый президент Каталонии Торра заявил: "Еще одна победа. Наш голос свободен, а скоро будет свободна и наша страна." ("One more victory. Our voice is free and soon the country will be too.")
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9 июля 2018 г. на встрече с премьер-министром Испании Санчесом президент Каталонии Торра вновь призвал к проведению референдума о самоопределении Каталонии..
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Берлин, июнь 2018
Бывший президент Каталонии Пучдемон и новый президент Каталонии Торра.
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"Another bad day for Spain's judicial system. Puigdemont will be a free man as long as he does not cross the Spanish border."
"Financial Times"
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"The decision to leave Mr. Puigdemont free complicates the Supreme Court’s attempt to try a total of 25 Catalan separatists for leading their region toward secession last year."
"New York Times".
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https://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/spain-extradition-catalonia-carles-puigdemont-politicians_289575_102.html
Spain withdraws arrest warrants for Carles Puigdemont, 5 other exiled politicians
Gemma Liñán
"El Nacional"
Barcelona. Thursday, 19 July 2018
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Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has issued a ruling rejecting Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's extradition to Spain. The higher regional court of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany had agreed to extradite him on the charge of misuse of public funds alone, rejecting the accusation of rebellion, meaning he couldn't face trial on that count in Spain.
At the same time he has withdrawn the other arrest warrants against exiled Catalan politicians Toni Comín, Lluís Puig, Meritxell Serret, Clara Ponsatí and Marta Rovira. The first three had their extraditions rejected by a Belgian court in May, the judges alleging errors in the warrants; Ponsatí had a hearing scheduled in Edinburgh at the end of this month; little has emerged about the proceedings against Rovira in Switzerland. The judge maintains for the moment, however, the charges against the pro-independence leaders in pretrial detention in Spain.
Llarena's arguments
Llarena emphasises "the lack of commitment" of the German court over events which could have broken Spain's constitutional order. He deems them to have preempted the trial, without abiding by the precepts of either the framework decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), or the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, or the manual on the EAW drafted by the European Commission.
For the Spanish judge, the German court "should have limited itself to confirming whether the facts described by the Spanish legal system are contemplated in Germany's penal legislation, and if (...) the suspected events had been carried out in [Germany], a criminal investigation similar to the one being pursued here would be undertaken".
He continues: "In this sense, it doesn't comply with the framework decision for the processing of the arrest warrant to be denied with respect to some principle facts of rebellion or sedition (limiting the exercising of Spanish law to pursuing the crime of misuse of public funds), based on an analysis in which the legal authorities of the requested state do not carry out an abstract deliberation of the prediction of the classification of the suspected offences, rather they address the definitive judgement of the subsumption of the facts in criminal offences".
He accuses his German colleagues of working "from a closed conclusion of how events developed or what the intentions were which could have guided the participants. By acting in this way, the German court has preempted the trial, which isn't consistent with the progressive crystallisation of the allegation, and done so from an incorrect position".
German court accused of siding with Puigdemont
According to Llarena's ruling, the Schleswig-Holstein court goes as far as evaluating certain points, as background, of Carles Puigdemont's statement. Its evaluation of the facts means, for the Spanish judge, "conferring a definitive evidentiary value to his version, although the statement cannot be compared with the other sources of evidence collected during an extensive investigation which the court of the requested state is unaware of, and without these statements being able to be submitted to comparison with accusations which are deprived of the possibility of being included in the delivery file".
Llarena highlights that the German court reports that it doesn't see in the facts some of the requirements identified by its own legal system, "but doesn't report that it hasn't call for this investigating judge to illustrate those ends of the investigation which could reflect that these factors are present, and that despite this court (in its report of 26th April 2018) telling the Schleswig-Holstein court that the narrative [of the events the EAW is based on] only contains the facts which are of interest for the trial in Spain".
He says that the German court "cannot legally nor materially present an opinion on the incriminatory strength of evidence which isn't at its disposal, nor can it carry out a definitive judgement of the subsumption of the events charged in different categorisations".
Llarena says that these circumstances "not only short-circuit the effectiveness of the international cooperation tool we've promoted, but also improperly damage the circumstantial appreciation of liability which the investigation and a firm indictment describe".
The other arrest warrants
The judge also refers to the Belgian refusal to extradite three members of Puigdemont's former cabinet charged in the same case, Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret. The Brussels court had said that there needed to be a corresponding Spanish arrest warrant behind the European Arrest Warrant and that, as there wasn't, it was invalid.
He says this "openly disagrees with the indication of sufficiency we communicated to the requested state, scorning the knowledge each court has of its own law, as well as distrusting its clarifications. The formal objections expressed in the Belgian resolution are thus showed to be unacceptable".
Attacks against the German court
Llarena doesn't skimp on criticisms of the German court and its decision. He says that when there are doubts in the interpretation of an EU law, in this case the application of the European Arrest Warrant, in a matter pending before a court whose decisions cannot be appealed due to the country's internal law, the court has to ask the European court for a preliminary ruling. By doing so, they would have obtained an clarifying interpretation of the law, guaranteeing it be applied uniformly around the EU.
He says that among other reasons, a preliminary ruling was needed because there existed doubts of interpretation which had to be present for the German court, because Schleswig-Holstein prosecutors applied for his extradition on all charges, not just misuse of funds, and because of the complementary information Llarena provided in defence of his position. He also says there was no direct European case law on the concept of "double incrimination" in the European Arrest Warrant legislation and that the court's indirect case law contradicted the German court's position..
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https://www.elnacional.cat/en/editorial/jose-antich-llarena-surrenders-europe-puigdemont_289683_102.html
Llarena surrenders to Europe
José Antich
"El Nacional"
Barcelona. Thursday, 19 July 2018
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First ridicule, then capitulation and, finally, shelter in his home court, back turned to European justice. Judge Pablo Llarena, discredited to extremes that would demand his immediate resignation from the case, like that of the members of the second chamber of the Supreme Court who have backed him to date, has withdrawn all the European Arrest Warrants which were being processed in different European countries. That against president Carles Puigdemont in Germany, ministers Toni Comín, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig in Belgium, minister Clara Ponsatí in Scotland and ERC's secretary general, Marta Rovira, in Switzerland, the same country former CUP deputy Anna Gabriel is in.
The seven pro-independence Catalan politicians will remain free citizens in free countries. Spanish justice has been seriously bruised and its international prestige damaged. There are not, at this time, protective layers to hide from the planet the mess the Spanish state has put together, which on the one hand invented a non-existent coup d'état and which, on the other, is resisting investigating the revelations about the assets of the former head of state from his very good friend Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
It's obvious that we have to celebrate the repercussions of Llarena's decision and declare ourselves convinced that justice has ended up being done with the exiles thanks to the decisions by Germany and Belgium. The internationalisation strategy with Catalan politicians in different countries has been devastating, laying bear the great lie the Spanish state set underway last autumn to suspend Catalan autonomy, overthrow the Catalan government in a soft coup and protected by the Spanish Constitution, and to put at the head of the Catalan government, in the election on 21st December last year, a friendly party with the independence movement on the Parliament's opposition benches. The German decision has encouraged a domino effect in other countries and judge Llarena has got scared.
Now, it can be dressed up all you want, Germany can be accused of a lack of solidarity with Spain or giving shelter with its decisions over the Catalan independence movement. They'll all be excuses. The only reality is that with political and media control and the corresponding injection of money, a whole string of lies can be constructed within our borders, but Europe is another matter. Its democracy is another matter, as is its justice.
Pedro Sánchez's new government shouldn't make a mistake in its first reading of the German decision or now of judge Llarena's decision. It's fully evident now that the Supreme Court judge, after being undermined, will concentrate the punishment on the Catalan political prisoners, as he's done so far. Of the two possible paths, accepting his error or ploughing ahead ignoring it, he will take the second. The Spanish government has enough tools, starting with the public prosecution service, to prevent this desperate escape. So far everything but justice has been done and this needs to be brought to an end. The Catalan prisoners must be released immediately and have a fair trial in the autumn. Something which currently, sadly, is not guaranteed..
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https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/07/19/inenglish/1532005743_590084.html
Judge drops international arrest warrant against former Catalan premier
Magistrate takes decision after Germany refuses to extradite Carles Puigdemont on charge of rebellion. The politician will still be arrested if he sets foot on Spanish soil
REYES RINCÓN
"El Pais"
Madrid 20 JUL 2018
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The Supreme Court judge in charge of investigating the politicians involved in last year’s unilateral declaration of independence in Catalonia has rejected the extradition from Germany of former regional premier, Carles Puigdemont, solely on charges of misuse of funds, rather than on the more serious charge of rebellion.
He has also withdrawn the European arrest warrant issued against Puigdemont and five other politicians who fled Spain to avoid detention for their role in last year’s secessionist drive.
Puigdemont originally fled to Belgium to avoid arrest in Spain in the wake of the illegal independence referendum held on October 1, and subsequent independence declaration passed in the regional parliament.
But this year he was arrested when he entered Germany on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish courts. Since then, Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena has been trying to have him extradited to face charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. The court in Schleswig-Holstein in charge of the extradition request, however, said there was no sufficient evidence to hand over the politician for rebellion - an offense whose equivalent in Germany would be high treason. The judges were, however, willing to send him back to Spain to face trial for the lesser charge of misuse of funds.
In a decision made public today, Llarena says that he believes the German court has undermined his powers as an investigating judge, but ruled out the possibility of taking the case to the European Court of Justice to determine whether German judges overstepped their powers.
Llarena underscored the “lack of commitment” of the German court based on events that “could have “fractured the constitutional order of Spain.” He went on to say that the decision of the German judges had predicted the outcome of a court case over which they have no powers, ignoring the precepts of the European arrest warrant, the jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice, and the European arrest warrant guidelines produced by the European Commission.
In the wake of the German court’s decision, Llarena has also decided to withdraw the European and international arrest warrants against Puigdemont, as well as five other Catalan politicians who left the country last year: Antonio Comin, Luis Puig, Meritxell Serret, Clara Ponsatí and Marta Rovira.
Domestic arrest warrants are still in place, however, meaning that all six face arrest should they set foot in Spain.
The charge of rebellion against Puigdemont entails up to 30 years in jail, and the accusation is the entire basis of the case against the pro-independence leaders involved in last year’s unilateral declaration of independence. The decision by the German court effectively means that Puigdemont cannot be tried in Spain for this crime. The Catalan leaders who did not leave Spain, however - such as former deputy premier Oriol Junqueras, currently being held in pre-trial custody - could.
In his written decision, Llarena states that the German court should have limited itself to verifying whether the facts of the case as described in the indictment sheet sent from Spain constitute offenses in Germany, and whether they would justify an investigation by the courts such as the one the Spanish Supreme Court judge has already opened.
What’s more, the judge considers that the German court approached the case “having reached a conclusion as to how the facts played out, and of the intentions that may have guided the participants.” By doing so, he added, “they have anticipated the trial,” doing so from a “misguided position.”
The Schleswig-Holstein court, Llarena adds, awards Puigdemont’s version of events the value of proven facts, even though the German judges did not have access to other evidence collected in Spain as part of the investigation.
The Spanish judge’s decision in effect condemns Puigdemont to remain outside Spain, since he will be arrested as soon as he sets foot in the country. This situation could now play out for the next 20 years, which is the time it would take for the charges of rebellion to prescribe. But this option also means that the former premier will not face trial, something that could aggravate the situation of the other pro-independence leaders who did not flee Spain and who are currently in pre-trial detention.
Ever since the reluctance of the German judges to extradite Puigdemont on rebellion charges became known, the Spanish courts have been considering taking the issue to the European Court of Justice. However, Llarena has ruled out that option on the basis that Germany should have done so. “In that event, a uniform interpretation of the law would have been obtained, guaranteeing that it would be applied uniformly throughout the EU,” the judge writes..
"Our project, what our voters voted for, is independence. We believe that the best solution for the Iberian peninsula is for, besides Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra, there to be two more states: the republic of Spain and the republic of Catalonia."
"Наш проект, за который проголосовали наши избиратели, - это независимость. Мы считаем, что наилучшим решением для Иберийского полуострова является, помимо Португалии, Гибралтара и Андорры, еще два государства: республика Испания и республика Каталония."
Президент Каталонии Хаим Торра
интервью бельгийскому телевидению
18 июля 2018.
.
.
.
.
.
Как я и предсказывал
.
https://pluto9999.livejournal.com/161416.html
Испания: "Такой Пучдемон нам не нужен…"
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Верховный суд Испании отказался от международного ордера на арест и экстрадицию бывшего лидера Каталонии Карлеса Пучдемона.
В то же время остался в силе внутренний ордер, по которому Пучдемон в случае пересечения границы Испании будет немедленно арестован.
.
Как заявили в Верховном суде Испании, такое решение принято из-за того, что немецкие власти согласились экстрадировать Пучдемона в Испанию лишь по статье о растрате госсредств, но не по обвинению в мятеже. Таким образом, Пучдемона и его соратников могли судить в Испании только по этому делу. Верховный суд страны счел это недостаточным, поскольку каталонских лидеров в Испании также обвиняют в мятеже. Чтобы сохранить возможность провести процесс именно по этому делу, власти Испании аннулировали международный ордер на арест бывшего каталонского лидера, но не отказались от выдвинутых против него обвинений. Ведущий дело сепаратистов судья Пабло Льярена заявил, что огорчен решением немецкого суда, упрекнув его в "недостатке настойчивости" в преследовании преступников, "a lack of engagement with certain facts that could have broken Spain's constitutional order". По его мнению, немецкий суд вышел за пределы своих полномочий: он не учитывал ни систему принятия решений, предусмотренную Европейским ордером на арест, ни судебную практику Европейского Суда, ни Руководство по Европейскому ордеру, подготовленное Еврокомиссией. Тем не менее, судья добавил, что он не будет стремиться к вынесению решения Европейского суда против немецкого суда об отказе в выдаче за преступление мятежа.
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Также отозваны аналогичные ордера в отношении еще пяти видных каталонских сепаратистов скрывающихся в Бельгии, Швейцарии и Шотландии.
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"Судить главного организатора мятежа за растрату - это все равно, что судить убийцу за то, что он перешёл улицу на красный свет", - заявил мадридский адвокат Артуро Ромеро Диас. Кроме того, осуждение за обычную растрату на срок менее 2 лет в Испании для осужденных впервые предусматривает условный срок, и нет уверенности что испанской прокуратуре удасться доказать растрату Пучдемоном в особо крупных размерах, предусматривающую тюремное заключение. А вышедший на свободу Пучдемон мог снова претендовать на пост главы правительства Каталонии.
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Ассоциация испанских судей Agora Judicial обвинила судью Льярена в неправильном проведении дела об экстрадиии Пучдемона, нанесшем ущерб репутации испанской юстиции: "The external image of the Spanish judiciary cannot afford this kind of actions."
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В ответ на решение Верховного суда Испании Пучдемон заявил о слабости аргументации обвинений со стороны Мадрида. "Отзыв европейского ордера на арест является демонстрацией огромной слабости судебного дела. Отмена превентивного заключения стала бы демонстрацией того, что испанское правосудие начинает действовать как европейское", - написал он в Twitter. "Сегодня как никогда важно требовать освобождения политических заключённых. Отзыв ордера на арест - демонстрация слабости судебных обвинений."
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Отзыв ордера на арест позволяет Пучдемону свободно перемещаться по всей Европе, кроме Испании, что он, наверняка, использует для усиления сепаратистской пропаганды.
.
Новый президент Каталонии Торра заявил: "Еще одна победа. Наш голос свободен, а скоро будет свободна и наша страна." ("One more victory. Our voice is free and soon the country will be too.")
.
9 июля 2018 г. на встрече с премьер-министром Испании Санчесом президент Каталонии Торра вновь призвал к проведению референдума о самоопределении Каталонии..
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Click to view.
Берлин, июнь 2018
Бывший президент Каталонии Пучдемон и новый президент Каталонии Торра.
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"Another bad day for Spain's judicial system. Puigdemont will be a free man as long as he does not cross the Spanish border."
"Financial Times"
.
"The decision to leave Mr. Puigdemont free complicates the Supreme Court’s attempt to try a total of 25 Catalan separatists for leading their region toward secession last year."
"New York Times".
.
https://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/spain-extradition-catalonia-carles-puigdemont-politicians_289575_102.html
Spain withdraws arrest warrants for Carles Puigdemont, 5 other exiled politicians
Gemma Liñán
"El Nacional"
Barcelona. Thursday, 19 July 2018
.
Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena has issued a ruling rejecting Catalan president Carles Puigdemont's extradition to Spain. The higher regional court of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany had agreed to extradite him on the charge of misuse of public funds alone, rejecting the accusation of rebellion, meaning he couldn't face trial on that count in Spain.
At the same time he has withdrawn the other arrest warrants against exiled Catalan politicians Toni Comín, Lluís Puig, Meritxell Serret, Clara Ponsatí and Marta Rovira. The first three had their extraditions rejected by a Belgian court in May, the judges alleging errors in the warrants; Ponsatí had a hearing scheduled in Edinburgh at the end of this month; little has emerged about the proceedings against Rovira in Switzerland. The judge maintains for the moment, however, the charges against the pro-independence leaders in pretrial detention in Spain.
Llarena's arguments
Llarena emphasises "the lack of commitment" of the German court over events which could have broken Spain's constitutional order. He deems them to have preempted the trial, without abiding by the precepts of either the framework decision on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), or the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, or the manual on the EAW drafted by the European Commission.
For the Spanish judge, the German court "should have limited itself to confirming whether the facts described by the Spanish legal system are contemplated in Germany's penal legislation, and if (...) the suspected events had been carried out in [Germany], a criminal investigation similar to the one being pursued here would be undertaken".
He continues: "In this sense, it doesn't comply with the framework decision for the processing of the arrest warrant to be denied with respect to some principle facts of rebellion or sedition (limiting the exercising of Spanish law to pursuing the crime of misuse of public funds), based on an analysis in which the legal authorities of the requested state do not carry out an abstract deliberation of the prediction of the classification of the suspected offences, rather they address the definitive judgement of the subsumption of the facts in criminal offences".
He accuses his German colleagues of working "from a closed conclusion of how events developed or what the intentions were which could have guided the participants. By acting in this way, the German court has preempted the trial, which isn't consistent with the progressive crystallisation of the allegation, and done so from an incorrect position".
German court accused of siding with Puigdemont
According to Llarena's ruling, the Schleswig-Holstein court goes as far as evaluating certain points, as background, of Carles Puigdemont's statement. Its evaluation of the facts means, for the Spanish judge, "conferring a definitive evidentiary value to his version, although the statement cannot be compared with the other sources of evidence collected during an extensive investigation which the court of the requested state is unaware of, and without these statements being able to be submitted to comparison with accusations which are deprived of the possibility of being included in the delivery file".
Llarena highlights that the German court reports that it doesn't see in the facts some of the requirements identified by its own legal system, "but doesn't report that it hasn't call for this investigating judge to illustrate those ends of the investigation which could reflect that these factors are present, and that despite this court (in its report of 26th April 2018) telling the Schleswig-Holstein court that the narrative [of the events the EAW is based on] only contains the facts which are of interest for the trial in Spain".
He says that the German court "cannot legally nor materially present an opinion on the incriminatory strength of evidence which isn't at its disposal, nor can it carry out a definitive judgement of the subsumption of the events charged in different categorisations".
Llarena says that these circumstances "not only short-circuit the effectiveness of the international cooperation tool we've promoted, but also improperly damage the circumstantial appreciation of liability which the investigation and a firm indictment describe".
The other arrest warrants
The judge also refers to the Belgian refusal to extradite three members of Puigdemont's former cabinet charged in the same case, Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret. The Brussels court had said that there needed to be a corresponding Spanish arrest warrant behind the European Arrest Warrant and that, as there wasn't, it was invalid.
He says this "openly disagrees with the indication of sufficiency we communicated to the requested state, scorning the knowledge each court has of its own law, as well as distrusting its clarifications. The formal objections expressed in the Belgian resolution are thus showed to be unacceptable".
Attacks against the German court
Llarena doesn't skimp on criticisms of the German court and its decision. He says that when there are doubts in the interpretation of an EU law, in this case the application of the European Arrest Warrant, in a matter pending before a court whose decisions cannot be appealed due to the country's internal law, the court has to ask the European court for a preliminary ruling. By doing so, they would have obtained an clarifying interpretation of the law, guaranteeing it be applied uniformly around the EU.
He says that among other reasons, a preliminary ruling was needed because there existed doubts of interpretation which had to be present for the German court, because Schleswig-Holstein prosecutors applied for his extradition on all charges, not just misuse of funds, and because of the complementary information Llarena provided in defence of his position. He also says there was no direct European case law on the concept of "double incrimination" in the European Arrest Warrant legislation and that the court's indirect case law contradicted the German court's position..
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https://www.elnacional.cat/en/editorial/jose-antich-llarena-surrenders-europe-puigdemont_289683_102.html
Llarena surrenders to Europe
José Antich
"El Nacional"
Barcelona. Thursday, 19 July 2018
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First ridicule, then capitulation and, finally, shelter in his home court, back turned to European justice. Judge Pablo Llarena, discredited to extremes that would demand his immediate resignation from the case, like that of the members of the second chamber of the Supreme Court who have backed him to date, has withdrawn all the European Arrest Warrants which were being processed in different European countries. That against president Carles Puigdemont in Germany, ministers Toni Comín, Meritxell Serret and Lluís Puig in Belgium, minister Clara Ponsatí in Scotland and ERC's secretary general, Marta Rovira, in Switzerland, the same country former CUP deputy Anna Gabriel is in.
The seven pro-independence Catalan politicians will remain free citizens in free countries. Spanish justice has been seriously bruised and its international prestige damaged. There are not, at this time, protective layers to hide from the planet the mess the Spanish state has put together, which on the one hand invented a non-existent coup d'état and which, on the other, is resisting investigating the revelations about the assets of the former head of state from his very good friend Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
It's obvious that we have to celebrate the repercussions of Llarena's decision and declare ourselves convinced that justice has ended up being done with the exiles thanks to the decisions by Germany and Belgium. The internationalisation strategy with Catalan politicians in different countries has been devastating, laying bear the great lie the Spanish state set underway last autumn to suspend Catalan autonomy, overthrow the Catalan government in a soft coup and protected by the Spanish Constitution, and to put at the head of the Catalan government, in the election on 21st December last year, a friendly party with the independence movement on the Parliament's opposition benches. The German decision has encouraged a domino effect in other countries and judge Llarena has got scared.
Now, it can be dressed up all you want, Germany can be accused of a lack of solidarity with Spain or giving shelter with its decisions over the Catalan independence movement. They'll all be excuses. The only reality is that with political and media control and the corresponding injection of money, a whole string of lies can be constructed within our borders, but Europe is another matter. Its democracy is another matter, as is its justice.
Pedro Sánchez's new government shouldn't make a mistake in its first reading of the German decision or now of judge Llarena's decision. It's fully evident now that the Supreme Court judge, after being undermined, will concentrate the punishment on the Catalan political prisoners, as he's done so far. Of the two possible paths, accepting his error or ploughing ahead ignoring it, he will take the second. The Spanish government has enough tools, starting with the public prosecution service, to prevent this desperate escape. So far everything but justice has been done and this needs to be brought to an end. The Catalan prisoners must be released immediately and have a fair trial in the autumn. Something which currently, sadly, is not guaranteed..
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https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/07/19/inenglish/1532005743_590084.html
Judge drops international arrest warrant against former Catalan premier
Magistrate takes decision after Germany refuses to extradite Carles Puigdemont on charge of rebellion. The politician will still be arrested if he sets foot on Spanish soil
REYES RINCÓN
"El Pais"
Madrid 20 JUL 2018
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The Supreme Court judge in charge of investigating the politicians involved in last year’s unilateral declaration of independence in Catalonia has rejected the extradition from Germany of former regional premier, Carles Puigdemont, solely on charges of misuse of funds, rather than on the more serious charge of rebellion.
He has also withdrawn the European arrest warrant issued against Puigdemont and five other politicians who fled Spain to avoid detention for their role in last year’s secessionist drive.
Puigdemont originally fled to Belgium to avoid arrest in Spain in the wake of the illegal independence referendum held on October 1, and subsequent independence declaration passed in the regional parliament.
But this year he was arrested when he entered Germany on the basis of a European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish courts. Since then, Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena has been trying to have him extradited to face charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds. The court in Schleswig-Holstein in charge of the extradition request, however, said there was no sufficient evidence to hand over the politician for rebellion - an offense whose equivalent in Germany would be high treason. The judges were, however, willing to send him back to Spain to face trial for the lesser charge of misuse of funds.
In a decision made public today, Llarena says that he believes the German court has undermined his powers as an investigating judge, but ruled out the possibility of taking the case to the European Court of Justice to determine whether German judges overstepped their powers.
Llarena underscored the “lack of commitment” of the German court based on events that “could have “fractured the constitutional order of Spain.” He went on to say that the decision of the German judges had predicted the outcome of a court case over which they have no powers, ignoring the precepts of the European arrest warrant, the jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice, and the European arrest warrant guidelines produced by the European Commission.
In the wake of the German court’s decision, Llarena has also decided to withdraw the European and international arrest warrants against Puigdemont, as well as five other Catalan politicians who left the country last year: Antonio Comin, Luis Puig, Meritxell Serret, Clara Ponsatí and Marta Rovira.
Domestic arrest warrants are still in place, however, meaning that all six face arrest should they set foot in Spain.
The charge of rebellion against Puigdemont entails up to 30 years in jail, and the accusation is the entire basis of the case against the pro-independence leaders involved in last year’s unilateral declaration of independence. The decision by the German court effectively means that Puigdemont cannot be tried in Spain for this crime. The Catalan leaders who did not leave Spain, however - such as former deputy premier Oriol Junqueras, currently being held in pre-trial custody - could.
In his written decision, Llarena states that the German court should have limited itself to verifying whether the facts of the case as described in the indictment sheet sent from Spain constitute offenses in Germany, and whether they would justify an investigation by the courts such as the one the Spanish Supreme Court judge has already opened.
What’s more, the judge considers that the German court approached the case “having reached a conclusion as to how the facts played out, and of the intentions that may have guided the participants.” By doing so, he added, “they have anticipated the trial,” doing so from a “misguided position.”
The Schleswig-Holstein court, Llarena adds, awards Puigdemont’s version of events the value of proven facts, even though the German judges did not have access to other evidence collected in Spain as part of the investigation.
The Spanish judge’s decision in effect condemns Puigdemont to remain outside Spain, since he will be arrested as soon as he sets foot in the country. This situation could now play out for the next 20 years, which is the time it would take for the charges of rebellion to prescribe. But this option also means that the former premier will not face trial, something that could aggravate the situation of the other pro-independence leaders who did not flee Spain and who are currently in pre-trial detention.
Ever since the reluctance of the German judges to extradite Puigdemont on rebellion charges became known, the Spanish courts have been considering taking the issue to the European Court of Justice. However, Llarena has ruled out that option on the basis that Germany should have done so. “In that event, a uniform interpretation of the law would have been obtained, guaranteeing that it would be applied uniformly throughout the EU,” the judge writes..