Prison for officials in Brussels would have caused “irreparable damage”, according to Belgian judge

The dismissed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and the four deposed Catalan ministers that are currently in Belgium weren’t sent to prison because the Belgian judge in charge of the case considered that it would have caused "irreparable damage." The Catalan newspaper ‘Ara’ had access to the judge's decree of the Minister of Agriculture, Meritxell Serret, on November 5.

According to the text, which is supposed to be similar to those of the other members of the Catalan government currently in Belgium, Serret had only €1,000 available at that moment. Thus, her lawyers warned the judge that a higher bail would have "implied her imprisonment.” The Belgian judge ruled that "this fact [the imprisonment] would imply irreparable damages."