The JxCat MEP and former president of the Generalitat, Carlos Puigdemonthas announced this Thursday that the sentence of the General Court of the European Union about his parliamentary immunity “It will be made public on Wednesday, July 5”, at 9.30 in the morning. This is how Puigdemont has advanced it from his Twitter account, in reference to the European sentence that both he and the former ministers and also JxCat MEPs, Antoni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, who won a seat in the 2019 European Parliament elections, are waiting for.
By virtue of this seat, the three JxCat MEPs – fled after the unilateral declaration of independence in autumn 2017 – demand that their parliamentary “immunity” be respected – without fearing arrest if they decide to return to Spain – and are waiting for the General Court of the European Union to rule on this matter. “In fact, there will be two consecutive sentences: the first, on the European Parliament’s refusal to defend us; and the second, on our immunity,” Puigdemont added in his tweet.
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Puigdemont already declared this year convinced of his strategy in the face of pending legal cases in Spain. “I will not return handcuffed or surrendered before a Spanish judge to be lenient, I will fight to return free,” he assured after learning that, by virtue of the entry into force of the reform of the Penal Code, the accusation for sedition was withdrawn but he was he maintained the one of aggravated embezzlement -which implies up to 12 years in prison- and the one of disobedience. His option has since been to fight the European court battle, which he has to decide on his immunity, “until the end”, despite admitting that it entails risks if the result does not end up being what was expected.
The European path, the lawyer Gonzalo Boye has always defended, is the one that can ensure his return to Catalonia if the rulings on the preliminary rulings first and, especially, on his immunity as a MEP later, are favorable to him. The ‘expresident’ has explicitly recognized that, although it may not go well, this is going to be his bet, in addition to remembering that despite the fact that the most serious crime that now falls on him is embezzlement, this was dismissed by Germany when declined the extradition requested by Llarena.