Spain has withdrawn the arrest warrant out of fear, Puigdemont says

The Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, deposed by the Spanish government, said that Spain has withdrawn the international arrest warrant issued for him and his four deposed ministers in Belgium out of fear of "looking ridiculous, of losing."

In a press conference live from Brussels the day after the withdrawal, he said that the Spanish courts are “afraid” that the Belgian judge would decide that their actions “have been perfectly normal in a democracy.”

"It is banned to use a European mandate to persecute political crimes"

“The Spanish justice has withdrawn the arrest warrant for fear of the what the world would think,” added Puigdemont. According to him, under EU law “it is banned to use a European mandate to persecute political crimes.” Thus, the deposed Catalan president and top candidate for Together for Catalonia ticket said that “either they weren’t aware that (the arrest warrant) had a very weak basis to keep these accusations, or the arrest warrant was a juridical blunder.”

Puigdemont also predicted that after this move, Madrid will end up “withdrawing the Article 155 and the repression.” The withdrawal of the international arrest warrant was ordered on Tuesday by the Spanish Supreme Court. Yet Puigdemont’s lawyers said that the president and ministers would stay in Belgium.