German state prosecutor calls for extradition of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont
By
Ulrich Rippert
4 April 2018
The state prosecutor in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein has applied for detention pending extradition for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont. The prosecutor deemed Spain’s extradition request to be valid and added that Puigdemont posed a flight risk.
A “careful review” of the European arrest warrant issued by the Spanish judiciary resulted in the finding that a valid extradition request has been presented, declared the prosecutor’s office. An “orderly extradition procedure” is to be expected, it continued.
The Schleswig-Holstein state prosecutor argued that the accusation of rebellion levelled against Puigdemont by the Spanish judiciary contains “in essence the accusation of carrying out the referendum on Catalan independence from Spain, which was illegal under the constitution, even though violent clashes were to be expected.” The accusation of rebellion finds its counterpart in Germany in sections 81 and 82 of the Criminal Code (high treason), the prosecutor’s office continued. A word-for-word correspondence between the German and Spanish provisions is not legally required, it added.
With this decision, the state prosecutor in Schleswig-Holstein is giving its backing to the Spanish government and adopting Madrid’s arguments. The District Court of Appeals in Schleswig must now determine whether Puigdemont’s transfer to Spain is permissible. The court has 60 days to issue a ruling. However, it is anticipated that the decision will be reached in a few days.
If the court follows the argumentation of the state prosecutor and rules Puigdemont’s extradition to be permissible, the final political decision will be in the…