Monday, March 26, 2018

Puigdemont Arrested in Germany

Over the weekend, German cops got some type of insider information, and stopped a car crossing into Germany and heading toward Belgium....with the Catalonia 'head of state' Puigdemont sitting there.  Based on an arrest warrant from Spain, they apprehended him.

What happens now?

Most German news groups covered the story, I'll cite ARD (public TV, Channel One) for most of my info.

Surprisingly enough....he's in the hands of state folks.....not German federal cops.  Schleswig Holstein state legal folks are going to be the ones to examine the EU warrant and if it's within their power to hand him over.

There's roughly a 60-day window now in effect.  By EU rules, unless something unusual comes up....they would be expected to hand Puigdemont over.

The threat from Spain in court?  They could pile on enough charges to keep Puigdemont in prison for three decades (at least they hint that).  By doing that, they would create a permanent front-page story.

My guess is that the local judges will draw this out for the full sixty days and try awful hard to make the Spanish government present its case.  In the end, I think Puigdemont will be handed over.   




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