MADRID: A Spanish judge issued an EU arrest warrant for Catalonia’s deposed separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, a day after he failed to appear for questioning over his role in the region’s tumultuous independence drive. Spanish prosecutors want to charge Puigdemont, holed up in Belgium, with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds. A EU arrest warrant was also issued for four other Catalan ministers who failed to show up and are also thought to be in Belgium, a court statement said. Rubber bulletsSpain’s worst political crisis in decades flared up over the staging of a Catalan independence referendum on October 1 despite a court ban. Twenty people including Puigdemont and the Catalan parliament speaker had been summoned for questioning on Thursday.

Source: Manila Times November 04, 2017 13:41 UTC