Judge withdraws ex-Catalan leader’s international arrest warrant

A SUPREME Court judge has withdrawn former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont’s international arrest warrant as well as four other ex-members of the dissolved parliament.

Judge Pablo Llarena said however that if any of the five returned to Spain they would still be arrested.

According to reports the warrant was withdrawn due to differences in Spanish and Belgium law which could limit the charges they could face, for example Puigdemont could face civil disobedience charges but not rebellion charges.

Pablo Llarena has said rebellion as a crime, by definition, is committed by a number of people and would therefore all who face the charges must be trialled in the same way.

Carles Puigdemont, Antonio Comín, Lluís Puig, Meritxell Serret and Clara Ponsatí fled to Brussels a month ago after declaring independence in Cataluña.