The former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, and MEP from Junts per Catalunya, as well as the members of the European Parliament, also from the same party and former councillors, Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí, will present the appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union against the ruling handed down last July in which their immunity was withdrawn.
Defense sources confirmed to La Vanguardia that the appeal will be presented tonight before the CJEU, the last day of the deadline to present the appeal, after the General Court of the EU confirmed at the beginning of July the withdrawal of immunity of the three politicians. Catalans.
Likewise, Puigdemont and Comín – accused of crimes of aggravated embezzlement and disobedience – will request precautionary measures to recover their immunity until the issue is resolved by European justice.
For her part, Ponsatí – only accused of disobedience – will not request any precautionary measure, since it does not entail any prison sentence. The former councilor returned to Spain last March after the reform of the Penal Code in which the crime of sedition for which she was being prosecuted was repealed. The investigating judge of the process, Pablo Llarena, sent a court date to Ponsatí, to which she did not appear, which is why she sent a search and arrest warrant for her. She returned to Barcelona last July, when she was arrested and later released.
Llarena already announced last July that he will not issue any European order against Puigdemont and Comín until the CJEU rules on the appeal. Thus, both MEPs were able to attend the last session of the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg this week.
European judges rejected the reasons formulated by Catalan politicians in their ruling on the decision to withdraw immunity by the European Parliament. Specifically, arguments such as the lack of impartiality of the institution or “political persecution” were denied.
