(29 Oct 2019) Belgian authorities have announced they'll wait until December to respond to Spain's new warrant for fugitive former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who handed himself in following the sentencing of 12 of his former colleagues.
After a court hearing in Brussels, Tuesday, Puigedemont's lawyer said Belgian judges had accepted the demand of extradition, but will give Puigdemont until December 16 to contest it.
Attorney Simon Bekaert told reporters that his client would fight Spain's warrant, which includes possible charges of sedition and misuse of public funds, following the imprisonment of nine separatist politicians and activists who led a push for Catalonian independence two years ago.
"We will fight this. We now have a timetable to file a written observation," Bekaert said.
Bekaert added that his client would seek to invoke immunity, hoping that the contested election of Puigdemont at the 2019 European Parliament elections could be considered a valid argument by Belgian justices.
Commenting after the hearing, Puigdemont said: "We will be here in December, and we now leave it to the hands of justice, and as always they will work with complete independence and professionalism - I don't expect anything less."
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