EP Votes To Strip Former Catalan Leader Puigdemont Of Immunity

Recently announced by the European Parliament that former president of Spain's autonomous community of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont MEP, has been stripped of the immunity afforded to him as an MEP following a vote on Monday evening.

• MEPs voted by a margin of 400 to 248 to strip him of his immunity, with 45 abstentions. Two of Puidgemont's colleagues in the EP were also stripped of their immunity.
• The removal of the three MEPs immunity is likely to see the Spanish gov't reactivate a dormant European Arrest Warrant against the trio, charged with sedition and misuse of public funds in relation to the illegal October 2017 independence referendum held in Catalonia.
• The EP's vote does not necessarily mean Puigdemont's immediate extradition. The Belgian courts will still have to rule on the extradition. In January, the Belgian Court of Appeals rejected Madrid's call for the extradition of Lluis Puig, stating they were concerned about Puig's presumption of innocence in court if he were to return.