The former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, was arrested today by German police at the border between Germany and Denmark, from where Puigdemont was trying to drive back to Belgium, where he resides.
The arrest is the first effect of the European arrest warrant issued yesterday by Spain for the crime attributed to Puigdemont of violent rebellion to try to impose the independence of Catalonia.
Puigdemont faces up to 30 years in prison for the crime he is accused of. Moreover, while he lived comfortably in Belgium (whose authorities have never been too cooperative with Spain), many of his former Catalan ministers have long been locked up in prison in Spain.
Now we have to see what happens. Puigdemont, who said he was willing to collaborate with the judiciary, was transferred from the offices of the Kiel police station to the Neumuenster prison. Spain believes that Germany is more collaborative than Belgium on the Puigdemont case: in this case the former Catalan president could be handed over to the Madrid authorities, where he would be imprisoned awaiting trial.
Puigdemont's extradition from Germany to Spain will be decided within two months but the former pro-independence president of Catalonia could ask for political asylum.
After the announcement of Puigdemont's arrest in Barcelona, popular protests and clashes between separatists and the police immediately erupted.
