Belgian Court Postpones Extradition Hearings For Two Ex-Catalan Pro-Independence Leaders

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2019) A Belgian court on Friday decided to postpone the hearings of two former members of the Catalan government, who are being sought for arrest and extradition by the Spanish authorities, to December 16.

Earlier in November, former Catalan Minister of Health Antoni Comin and former Minister of Culture Lluis Puig voluntarily appeared before Belgium's police for questioning. Last week, the Brussels Prosecutor's Office said that Comin and Puig did not agree to be extradited from Belgium to Spain, adding that hearings on their case would take place on November 15.

The hearings were postponed, as the court granted the request by the detainees' lawyers for changing the date, according to Comin and Puig's statements to reporters after leaving the courtroom.

On Thursday, a court in Edinburgh released ex-Catalan minister Clara Ponsati on bail hours after she handed herself in to police to have a European arrest warrant served on her. The next hearing in her extradition case is scheduled for December 12.

On October 14, the Spanish Supreme Court issued European and international arrest warrants for Carles Puigdemont and the government of the former president of Catalonia, who now resides in Belgium. On the same day, it sentenced nine Catalan independence leaders to prison terms ranging from nine to 13 years over their involvement in the 2017 unauthorized independence referendum, causing mass protests.