The European Parliament on Tuesday voted to lift the immunity of Carles Puidgemont, former president of Spain's Catalonia region and two of his associates-- a move that could pave way for them to be extradited.
400 members of the EU Parliament voted for the immunity of Puigdemont to be lifted, 248 were against, while 45 didn't vote. The two others whose immunity was lifted are former Catalan Health Minister Toni Comin and former regional Education Minister Clara Ponsati.
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Puigdemont and his colleagues who fled to Belgium in October 2017, can now be extradited to Spain and made to face legal action over charges relating to the illegal independence referendum in 2017.
Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati, in 2019 had won seats in the European Parliament and were entitled to protection members of the EU assembly receive. Puigdemont's legal team is planning to appeal losing his immunity to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, AP reports.
Spain is likely to reactivate a European Arrest Warrant (EAS) to bring Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati back to the country— Spain's attempts to convince Belgian authorities to extradite him, to put him under trial, has failed. Puigdemont also faces charges of sedition and misusing public funds. The MEPs' decision "sends a triple message", said Foreign Affairs Minister Arancha González Laya told Euronews. So far, nine pro-Catalan leaders have been found guilty of sedition and given prison sentences of between 9 and 13 years.
The 2017 referendum vote that favoured Catalonia breaking away from Spain won by a landslide, but, the Spanish government deemed the vote illegal and called the referendum unconstitutional. On the day of the poll, the police came down heavily on pro-Catalonia citizens, which led to hundreds of people getting injured.