The judge of Spain's National Audience court instructing in the cases against the Catalan government, Carmen Lamela, has issued an arrest warrant for president Carles Puigdemont and the four ministers who have stayed with him in Brussels: Toni Comín (Health), Meritxell Serret (Agriculture), Clara Ponsatí (Education) and Lluís Puig (Culture). The judge drafted the European Arrest Warrants with charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, malfeasance and disobedience and also ordered national and international alerts and searches for them all.
Their lawyers had asked for them to be able to declare by video-conference from Belgium, but the public prosecutor refused and asked for their immediate arrest if they didn't present themselves at the court in Madrid on Thursday as ordered. It was only this Friday, however, that Lamela wrote the official order for their arrest.
After the five failed to arrive at the courthouse, the Public Prosecutor asked for their arrest so they can appear as soon as possible. In the request, the deputy prosecutor of the National Audience, Miguel Ángel Carballo, said that there had been "repeated attempts to deliver the summons to their homes, as well as repeated telephone calls which they have ignored". He added that Puigdemont has "publicly shown his intention to not appear and asked, together with Comín and Serret, to carry out his declaration by videocall, without offering any details about his current location".
As such, Carmen Lamela was asked to order a search for them and for their subsequent arrest, both within Spain and internationally. She was also asked to carry out the necessary coordination with Belgian authorities to issue European Arrest Warrants against the five.
Despite the alert and arrest order, Puigdemont and the other ministers might not be immediately detained because the order first has to be processed by the Belgian courts. Puigdemont has said in an interview with Belgian television that he isn't trying to escape justice, rather that he has gone to "true justice", by which he means the Belgian system, with whom he says he is "totally prepared to collaborate".
Of the 14 members of the Catalan cabinet, all summoned to appear in the National Audience this Thursday, only 9 went. Lamela ordered preventive custody without bail for all of them except former minister Santi Vila (Business), who has been released after paying 50,000 euros bail. The others, namely vice-president Oriol Junqueras and ministers Jordi Turull (Presidency), Josep Rull(Territory), Raül Romeva (Foreign Affairs), Joaquim Forn(Interior), Carles Mundó (Justice), Dolors Bassa (Work) and Meritxell Borràs (Governance), remain in prison, where they are spending their first full day.