AXJ BELGIUM NEWS AND INFORMATION REGARDING CATALAN PRESIDENT CARLES PUIGDEMONT

AXJ BELGIUM NEWS AND INFORMATION REGARDING CATALAN PRESIDENT PUIGDEMONT



AXJ BRUSSELS : UPDATE 17.11.201703:16:24

The independent international civil and political rights Organization known as Actions for Justice ( AXJ ) has filed extensive documentation with the Court hearing the European Arrest Warrant ( EAW ) arguing that the legal immunity of Carles Puigdemont and other Members of the Catalan Government has been violated.

https://www.facebook.com/AXJ.BE/

AXJ BELIGIUM NEWS NETWORK


18.11.2017 03:09:02



Case to be stayed until December 4, 2017. Further information at:


https://spain.board-directory.net/t7-axj-catalonia-no-extradition-from-belgium#7




PUIGDEMONT EXTRADITION HEARING TO BE DISMISSED

AXJ BELGIUM·THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2017

After reviewing the Ley Organica 6/2006, of July 19, 2006, regarding the Constitution of the Nation of Catalonia, our international Attorneys have come to the conclusion that Catalonia is an independent Nation, and that the members of the Generalitat, composed of the Parliament and its President, have legal immunity.

Therefore the arrest and detention of the members of the Catalan Government was unlawful and violated Spanish, European and International Law, and the case will be filed accordingly.

The Audiencia Nacional in Madrid did not have competent jurisdiction to arrest and incarcerate these individuals and violated their constitutional and human rights. AXJ SPAIN and AXJ CATALONIA will be filing the complaint with the EC.

According to Law 6/2006, Of July 19, Reform Of The Statute Of Autonomy Of Catalonia that states as follows:

“JUAN CARLOS I King of Spain to all that the present join together and act. Know: That the Cortes Generales have approved, ratified by the citizens of Catalonia in referendum and I come in to sanction the following law. The self-government of Catalonia is based in the Constitution, as well as the historical rights of the Catalan people, within the framework of that, they give rise under this Statute to the recognition of a singular position of the Generalitat. Catalonia wants to develop its political personality within the framework of a State that recognizes and respects the diversity of identities of the peoples of Spain. The civic and associative tradition of Catalonia has stressed always the importance of Catalan language and culture, rights and duties, knowledge, training, social cohesion, sustainable development and equal rights, today, in particular, equality between women and men. Catalonia, through the State, participates in the construction of the political project of the European Union, whose values and objectives. Catalonia, from its humanist tradition, asserts its commitment to all peoples to build a peaceful and just world order. The Parliament of Catalonia, collecting the feelings and the will of the citizens of Catalonia, has defined Catalonia as a nation widely majority way. The Spanish Constitution, in its second article, recognises the national reality of Catalonia as a nationality. In exercise of their inalienable right of Catalonia to self-government, Catalan parliamentarians propose, the Constitutional Commission of the Congress of Deputies agreed, approved by the general courts and the people of Catalonia ratified this Statute .”

EXTRADITION HEARING

Puigdemont and the other four former ministers have their extradition hearing Friday, November 17, 2017. However, the entire extradition process could take months and will eventually be dismissed for lack of competent jurisdiction. The alleged European Arrest Warrant ( EAW ) issued was null and void ab initio.

AXJ BELIGUM has filed petitions for writs of HABEAS CORPUS with the Belgium Courts based on the fact that the arrests and subsequent detentions were totally unconsitutional since the Members of the Catalan Government have total immunity and by law are considered to have Catalan Nationality, not Spanish. Spain no longer has cometent jurisdiction over them and therefore their immunity results in the European Arrest Warrants ( EAW ) to be null and void ab initio.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS

The fugitive leader of Catalonia's secessionist movement said Wednesday that he will repeat as his party's leading candidate in upcoming elections for the Spanish region while he fights extradition from Belgium.

Carles Puigdemont told El Punt-Avui television from Brussels that he is handpicking a list of candidates to run under him in Dec. 21 elections for Catalonia's regional parliament, which were called by Spain's national government after the region's legislators voted to declare independence.
He said that the list, running under the name "Together For Catalonia" (Junts pel Catalunya), will include members from his Democratic Party of Catalonia (PDeCAT) and some independents without a background in politics.

"I have told PDeCAT that I need to make a list that is more mine than of the party so the greatest number of people feel comfortable," Puigdemont said. "PDeCAT has accepted it and is working toward it."

The Democratic Party of Catalonia confirmed to The Associated Press that its national board decided Wednesday to accept Puigdemont's proposal to create his own list.

Puigdemont said he plans to run his campaign from Brussels, where he and four former Cabinet members are facing an extradition hearing that could send them back to Spain to face accusations of rebellion and sedition. A Belgian judge released them from custody after they turned themselves in more than a week ago under the condition that they remain in Belgium.

"I am excited to campaign, but with limitations," Puigdemont said. "I don't have the right to leave Belgium and obviously I won't."
Puigdemont is a wanted man since he fled Spain following a crackdown by authorities after Catalonia's parliament voted in favor of a declaration of independence Oct. 27. He has said he went to the European Union's capital because he didn't trust that he would be fairly treated by Spanish courts.
Puigdemont and the other four former ministers have their extradition hearing Friday. However, the entire extradition process could take months.
He and 13 other former Cabinet members face prison sentences of up to 30 years. Nine former members of his government remained in Spain and were sent to prison by a judge while the investigation proceeds.

Spain's government responded to the northeastern region's declaration of independence by firing Puigdemont's government, dissolving Catalonia's Parliament and calling snap elections that it hopes will lead to a victory by parties against independence.

Polls forecast a tight race between parties in favor of secession and those who want to preserve centuries-old ties with the rest of Spain. According to the polls, Puigdemont's party is poised to lose votes, while the pro-secession Republican Left is expected to get the biggest block of votes yet fall well short of an outright majority.

Puigdemont said he was disappointed that he failed to persuade the Republic Left party to join his coalition.
Catalan separatists claim a mandate for independence from the results of a referendum on secession held Oct. 1 despite a ban by Spain's top court, a boycott by parties against independence and its failure to meet international standards. Forty-three percent of eligible voters turned out to cast ballots in the face of police raids on polling places.

If Puigdemont is convicted, besides jail time he could be banned from holding public office.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has pledged to quash all attempts of a breakaway, citing the Spanish constitution's provision that the nation is "indivisible."

Earlier Wednesday, Rajoy expressed confidence his government could handle any outside attempts to tamper with the election in Catalonia after his government had said there were indications of cyber-meddling by foreigners. Rajoy declined to give details on what security measures Spain would take to prevent or counter electronic interference with the vote, but said "people will vote with complete liberty."

Spanish Defense Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal said Monday that "many actions" to mount a misinformation campaign to destabilize Catalonia had "come from Russian territory" and elsewhere in recent months. However, both Cospedal and Rajoy said Spain had no indication the Russian government was involved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed insinuations of Russian meddling in Catalonia as unsubstantiated."We consider these accusations unfounded," Peskov said Wednesday, adding that Spain's concerns sounded like a "continuation of the hysteria in the U.S. and some other countries."

———
Associated Press writer Ciaran Giles reported this story from Madrid and AP writer Joseph Wilson reported in Barcelona. AP writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/notes/axj-belgium/puigdemont-extradition-hearing-to-be-dismissed/1064376173702346/