Wolfgang Schomburg: 'This was never a matter for criminal law'

Wolfgang Schomburg is the German lawyer of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. Since March, he has defended the Catalan leader against a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Spain that could have seen him facing up to 30 years in prison for rebellion and misuse of public funds.

In an unexpected move, the Spanish Supreme Court dropped the extradition orders altogether for Puigdemont and five other pro-independence leaders seeking refuge abroad. Judge Pablo Llarena withdrew the arrest warrants on Thursday, a week after a German court rejected extraditing Puigdemont for rebellion, and only accepting the possibility of sending him back to Spain for the alleged misuse of public funds.

Puigdemont and his colleagues are now free to move around Europe—except for Spain, where they are still at risk of immediate arrest. There are currently nine pro-independence leaders preemptively jailed in Catalonia for calling a referendum and declaring independence last October.

Are you satisfied with Spain's decision to withdraw the European Arrest Warrant?

Yes. But as we said from the very beginning, from our perspective it was never a matter for criminal law. Criminal law is the ultimate, the last possible tool to reach a goal, and when there is an internal political conflict in a country, then it must be resolved by political means but never by means of criminal law.