The former Minister of Culture Lluís Puig, protagonist of this morning's ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after the preliminary rulings, believes that the position of Strasbourg reinforces his position, endorses the Belgian judge's denial of his extradition and gives "more arguments" for a new Euroorder.
"In Flanders the sun has risen", the ex-minister snapped, with an ironic tone, in statements to RAC1. Puig has not hidden his satisfaction and has sold the Court's sentence practically as a triumph. "A great door opens for us," celebrated the former head of Culture of the Government.
Puig has celebrated that the CJEU has contradicted, according to his interpretation, the report that the General Advocate of the European Union made in July, a text that did not generate overly optimistic forecasts for the pro-independence leaders who live abroad. "The minimum percentage of sentences in which the Advocate General is ignored today has increased," said Miquel Sàmper, Lluís Puig's lawyer for a few weeks, alluding to the CJEU custom of following the lawyer's criteria.
Also in RAC1, Sàmper has boasted that the defense "has more elements than before" to face a fourth extradition request, which they already count on that will reach the Belgian courts in the coming days, when the judge so decides. of the Supreme Court Pablo Llarena. For the defense, there are several "arguments" with which they come out stronger. One of them is that the CJEU has validated the report of the UN Arbitrary Detention Group as an element to take into account (although in no case can it have decisive weight by itself). Also, that the Strasbourg Court use the term "objectively identifiable group" (equivalent to "Catalan national minority", according to Puig) in terms of the options to prove violations of rights.
Thus, both Puig and Sàmper consider that the handover of Belgium to Spain will not take place: "They will not do what they have not done before." Puig added that Llarena will have to "adjust" the Arrest and Surrender Order (OEDE) if she wants to appear "credible".
For its part, from the defense team of former president Carles Puigdemont and former ministers Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín, the lawyer Isabel Elbal considers "key" that extradition can be denied, according to the CJEU, if "deficiencies that affect the judicial protection of an objectively identifiable group of persons to which he belongs". For Elbal, "there is plenty of evidence" that Puigdemont and the rest of the leaders are part of this "identifiable group". In a tweet, the lawyer has challenged Judge Llarena that a new Euro-order has a "proportionate character", in reference to the terms used in the document of the European Court.
Andreu Van en Eynde, Oriol Junqueras' lawyer, reads along the same lines. He considers that the CJEU has "accepted the approach" made by the defense of the "risk of infringement of fundamental rights if it affected a specific group". An essential aspect, in his opinion, is that he maintains the "hopes" that the courts of European states will reject the extraditions if they detect a "repressive bias" against the independence movement.
