Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, the lawyer representing acting Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, has told Catalan public television 3/24 that he won't discard any scenario for the new presidential investiture of Puigdemont, who is currently in Brussels - not even his physical presence in the Catalan Parliament on the day of the debate and vote.
Cuevillas stated that Puigdemont is considering all scenarios for his election as president, even the possibility of going personally to the investiture session in parliament. He "has not discarded, at any time, going there personally - aware of the risks this entails - and submitting himself to the investiture in person", affirmed the lawyer.
Puigdemont assured on Friday that it is viable to govern at a distance - from Belgium - but would not be if he was "a convict", and thus he has discarded returning to Catalonia if there is any risk of being taken into custody, although he pointed out that he is considering claiming "parliamentary immunity" to avoid arrest. Alonso-Cuevillas also referred to his doubts about the journey which Puigdemont plans on making to Denmark to give a lecture this Monday, given the risk that this could precipitate a new European Arrest Warrant.
Extradition?
In declarations to the Catalan television channel 8tv, the lawyer pointed out that they are even examining the possibility of Puigdemont not going to Copenhagen. "I have strong reasons to believe that Denmark would not grant extradition, but we are appraising the time frames, because the period while an arrest warrant was being processed, could coincide with the investiture, preventing Puigdemont from deciding freely if he wanted to return or not", he explained.
The lawyer remarked that a European Arrest Warrant can be activated "in a question of hours", and for that reason they are watching movements by Spanish justice and Europol, since their priority is "full availability" of the acting Catalan leader for the days 29th, 30th and 31th January, when the investiture debate could be held in the Catalan Parliament.
According to Alonso-Cuevillas, Puigdemont, as an MP, has "immunity" and it is because of that that he believes that he could not be stopped nor imprisoned except in the event of committing a flagrant crime. "One thing is how the law concerned should be applied. But given that in the last few months, the application of the legal order has been very creative, or very destructive, or very innovative, no hypothesis can be discarded", he warned.