Der Spiegel (link in German), one of Europe's most influential weekly news magazines, says that the decision by the Belgian courts to refuse to extradite the three Catalan ministers in exile in Brussels represents a "defeat for Spain in court".
According to the magazine, the Belgian court has determined that "there are no valid national arrest warrants, which would correspond to the European arrest warrant".
"Despite a demand from Belgium, the Spanish judge only submitted an 'indictment' and 'not the national arrest warrant which the European arrest warrant is based on', said the Belgian lawyer for Comín and Serret. As such the three pro-independence leaders remain free in Belgium," they report.
In an article under the headline Belgium won't hand over the Catalan politicians, the magazine expresses surprise and emphasises that the legal defeat of Spain is down to a "procedural error", unexpected in a matter of such importance.
