German police detain former Catalan president under European arrest warrant

The former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to appear in court following his arrest in Germany, which triggered a wave of protests in Catalonia where thousands of separatists confronted police.

Puigdemont, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Brussels since October, was travelling in a car on the way from Finland to Belgium on Sunday when he was detained, having visited Finnish lawmakers in Helsinki.

Continue reading…
Source: gad

Regional presidency candidate Jordi Sànchez refused permission to go to investiture debate

Spain’s supreme court has ruled that the jailed Catalan independence leader chosen to run for the regional presidency cannot leave prison to attend an investiture debate next week.

Jordi Sànchez, the former head of the influential grassroots organisation Catalan National Assembly (ANC), has been in custody for five months over allegations that he and another civil society group leader used huge demonstrations to try to stop Spanish police officers from following a judge’s orders to halt the unilateral independence referendum held on 1 October last year.

Continue reading…
Source: gad

Roger Torrent urges end to direct Madrid rule but calls for dialogue over political crisis

The speaker of the Catalan parliament has insisted that the deposed regional president, Carles Puigdemont, remains the only candidate to form a new government, as he renewed his call for a negotiated political solution to the independence crisis.

Roger Torrent, who became speaker following December’s snap elections, told the Guardian that while he hoped for dialogue with the Spanish state, Catalonia urgently needed a new government to bring an end to direct rule from Madrid.

Continue reading…
Source: gad

Ousted president’s private messages caught on TV cameras reveal admission of defeat

The ousted Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, has admitted privately that his attempt to secure regional independence is over and claims he has been sacrificed by his own side, according to messages sent to a colleague and captured by TV cameras.

On Wednesday, a Spanish TV show published messages that Puigdemont had sent to his former health minister Toni Comín while the latter was at an event in Leuven, Belgium, the previous evening.

Continue reading…
Source: gad

Speaker says ex-president is only candidate to form government despite Spanish state’s warnings

The speaker of the Catalan parliament has postponed a session to invest Carles Puigdemont as president but insisted the deposed former leader remains the only legitimate candidate to form a government after pro-independence parties retained their majority in December’s snap elections.

Despite blunt warnings from the Spanish government that it will not allow Puigdemont to return to office after he fled to Belgium following last October’s unilateral declaration of independence, Roger Torrent said the investiture of a new president was a matter for the regional parliament alone.

Continue reading…
Source: gad