The decision of Judge Llarena to withdraw the extradition
order against members of the Catalan government in exile was meant to save
face, but what it did was to highlight the anomalous functioning of Spanish
justice for all to see.
It was possible that the Belgian judge would not approve the
extradition order on the basis of doubt that the accused would receive decent
treatment and a fair trial in Spain. But
word had it that the Belgian judge was not going to allow the charges of
rebellion, sedition, or misappropriation of funds, leaving only the charge of
disobedience. Rebellion and sedition
carry penalties of up to 30 years in Spain, while disobedience carries no
prison sentence – only the possibility of the person being suspended from
holding office.
Llarena withdrew the extradition order of the president and his
cabinet because he knew that there were only those two possibilities: (1) that the
Belgian judge would not grant it - finding that in Spain there are no
procedural guarantees for a fair trial, or (2) that he would accept it but limit
the charges to disobedience. This is
because the charges of rebellion and sedition do not exist in Belgium, or in most
other modern countries, having been condemned to obsolescence sometime after
the middle ages, and a European extradition order must be for a crime that
exists in both member states or appear on a list of 39 specified crimes. In any case, even the Spanish definition of rebellion
requires violence and there was no violence in this case. And finally, in Belgian law, misappropriation
of funds can only be applied when the accused has personally appropriated the
funds and that was not in the accusation.
This would mean that Puigdemont and the four ministers, if extradited,
could only be tried for disobedience, which carries no prison sentence.
Either of these two outcomes – denying the extradition or
reducing the charges -- would be a great embarrassment to Spain and the Spanish
justice system. When Llarena wants to hold
a trial which could condemn the accused to thirty years in prison, and Belgium
considers that at most they could be prevented from holding office, the
difference in the possible charges and the penalty is so gross that it is
inexplicable. So to avoid the embarrassment
of having to answer to the inexplicable, Llarena withdrew the extradition
before the Belgian judge’s decision on the matter.
With the withdrawal of the extradition order by the Spanish,
the Belgian judge has immediately withdrawn preventive measures (where unlike
their counterparts in Spain who are in prison without bail, those in Belgium
were free without bail but had to remain in Belgium and make themselves
available to the court whenever called).
President Puigdemont and his ministers are now free persons except if
they enter Spain where they would be immediately arrested to face charges of
crimes that are not crimes in other European countries.
The first consequence of the withdrawal of preventive
measures against the legitimate government of Catalonia will be that President
Puigdemont, counselors Ponsatí, Serret, Comín, and Puig will be able to
participate freely in the demonstration on Thursday in Brussels where it is
expected that 20,000-30,000 Catalans will gather before the EU headquarters to
demand that the EU uphold the basic human and civil rights written into its
constitution and supposedly guaranteed to all EU citizens (Catalans included).
They are coming to Brussels because the coup d'état against
the self-government of Catalonia would not have been possible without the total
support of the European Commission. Claude
Juncker made a bad decision for the interests of the Union and in terms of European
morals and politics.
President Puigdemont made a statement from Brussels about
the cancelling of the extradition order, saying that the “Spanish are not so
brave when the world is looking at them.
When they can’t control the whole chain, when they don’t have judges who
are friends, or prosecutors who are close to them, and they have the whole
world looking at them, then they are not so brave.”
Puigdemont asked why the charges against the rest of the
accused were also not withdrawn. He said
that they were victims of a political persecution for carrying out the mandate
of the Catalan public that voted for them.
“That’s not a crime, that’s democracy,” he said.
He said the extradition order was withdrawn because Spain has
realized that the accusations of rebellion and sedition are not acceptable in
Europe and that Europe prohibits persecution for political crimes. He also said that leaving Spain and going to
Europe was a useful strategy because it brought to light the state of Spanish
justice.
