Spain will not issue arrest warrant for Puigdemont until European decision on immunity

The Spanish Supreme Court will not issue an arrest warrant for pro-independence Junts MEP Carles Puigdemont until the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decides whether it will hear a potential appeal regarding his loss of parliamentary immunity, which could be temporarily restored in the meantime. 

Pablo Llarena, the judge who supervises investigations relating to the 2017 independence referendum deemed illegal by Spain, announced this on Thursday, only days after Spain's public prosecutor had asked him to issue new arrest warrants for Puigdemont, the Catalan president at the time of the vote, as well as fellow Junts MEP Toni Comín, Catalonia's former health minister. 

Puigdemont and Comín have lived in Belgium since not long after the referendum in an effort to evade prosecution in Spain. They have until September 15 to appeal the CJEU ruling. 

If the European court then decides to uphold the ruling stripping them of their immunity, Llarena will issue warrants for their arrest. The judge also noted in his decision to delay issuing arrest warrants that the next European elections are in June 2024.

The public prosecutor had requested arrest warrants for Puigdemont and Comín for the crimes of serious misuse of public funds and disobedience for their role in the 2017 vote. 

Although the July 5 European General Court (EGC) ruling that MEPs had the right to lift Catalan independence leaders' immunity also affected Junts MEP Clara Ponsatí, who was Catalonia's education minister in 2017, she has only been charged with disobedience, which is not an imprisonable offense. 

The former Catalan president was previously accused of sedition, but this was removed from the Spanish penal code in 2022 and partially replaced with the crime of aggravated public disorder.