Spanish court may seek Puigdemont’s extradition for sedition

Spain’s Supreme Court could reduce the charges against pro-independence leaders from rebellion to sedition in order to facilitate the extradition of Carles Puigdemont, the deposed Catalan president who was detained on a European Arrest Warrant in Germany.

The Schleswig-Holstein court rejected extraditing Puigdemont for the charges of rebellion, pointing to the absence of violent acts in Catalonia’s bid for independence. The Spanish and German criminal codes both envision violence as a condition for charging someone with the crime of rebellion, and its German equivalent of high treason.

In a response to Jordi Sànchez, a jailed activist who appealed the blocking of his appointment as president, the Supreme Court referred to the Schleswig-Holstein court’s decision. The Spanish tribunal said that should Germany face a secessionist bid by one of its länds, it would prosecute leaders for high treason.