2023-07-05 11:21:23
The Court of the European Union (EU) rejected, on Wednesday July 5, the appeals of three Catalan separatist MEPs, including Carles Puigdemont, who challenged the lifting of their immunity decided in 2021 by the European Parliament. The decision also concerns Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin, relatives of Mr. Puigdemont.
All of them have been in the crosshairs of Spanish justice since Catalonia’s failed secession attempt in 2017. They asked the EU court to annul the decisions to lift their immunity, paving the way for them to be challenged in court. from their country.
After summary proceedings related to the appeal brought in the summer of 2021 against these decisions, the court established in Luxembourg ruled this time on the merits. The court notably rejected the argument of the alleged violation by the European Parliament of the principle of impartiality, which was brandished by the applicants.
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The three separatists established in Belgium
The court also considers that, in deciding on the requests for waiver of immunity presented by Madrid, the European Parliament had not “not to examine the legality of Spanish judicial acts”. “This question falls within the sole competence of the national authorities”the statement said. “The court rejects all of the grounds put forward by the three deputies, in particular their arguments that Parliament erred in concluding that the legal proceedings in question were not initiated with the intention of harming the activity of the deputies. »he adds.
The independence government of Mr. Puigdemont had tried in October 2017 to secede from Spain by organizing a referendum of self-determination, prohibited by justice, before the local Parliament unilaterally declared the independence of the region. Madrid then suspended the region’s autonomy while the separatist leaders were imprisoned or fled abroad. Mrs Ponsati and MM. Puigdemont and Comin were among the leaders who fled their country. All three are currently established in Belgium.
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