Ex-Catalan leader vows to keep fighting extradition to Spain

7/3/2021 19:19

        Catalonia's former regional president Carles Puigdemont says he will keep fighting extradition back to Spain if, as he expects, the European Union's parliament strips him of his immunity as a lawmaker this week.
        
        Puigdemont and two fellow Catalan separatists won seats in the European Parliament in 2019, two years after fleeing Spain because they had led a failed secession attempt for Catalonia, a move that Spain has deemed illegal.
        
        On Monday, Puigdemont, along with cohorts Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati, faces a vote by the European Parliament on whether to lift their immunity as lawmakers, a move that has been recommended by the parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee.
        
        Lifting their immunity would allow Spain to once again pursue their extradition to stand trial like their fellow separatist leaders who remained in Spain and were found guilty of sedition and the misuse of public funds for the 2017 breakaway bid.