Catalonia’s Puigdemont set for bail in Germany
Neumünster, Germany, (MILLAT ONLINE):Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is set to walk out of German jail Friday, after judges refused his extradition to Spain on a rebellion charge and ordered him freed on bail pending a ruling on a lesser corruption charge.
“See you tomorrow. Thank you very much to everybody!” read a tweet posted in Puigdemont’s name late Thursday.
It was not immediately clear what time he would leave the prison in the northern town of Neumuenster. By 0730 GMT, prosecutors said Puigdemont had yet to post his 75,000-euro ($92,000-) bail.
In a heavy blow for Madrid on Thursday, judges at the upper state court in Schleswig-Holstein found extradition on a charge of rebellion would be “inadmissable”.
Puigdemont was not involved in violence during a referendum on Catalan independence last October, they said in a statement.
That was grounds to reject prosecutors’ argument that the Spanish “rebellion” charge was similar enough to Germany’s “high treason” statute to justify extradition.
The Catalan separatist figurehead could still be extradited on a charge of misusing public funds, the judges added, as they asked their Spanish counterparts for more information on the matter.
Once Puigdemont is out on bail, he must keep authorities informed of his whereabouts, report to police weekly, respond to summons from prosecutors or the court, and remain in Germany.