Spain calls on Denmark to arrest Puigdemont

Spain's federal prosecutor's office on Sunday said former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont should be arrested if he travels to Denmark for a scheduled university debate about the breakaway region and democracy in Europe.

The prosecutor's office said it would have a Supreme Court judge "immediately" issue an arrest warrant for Puigdemont.

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In December, Spain's top court withdrew an extradition order for the former Catalan leader and four regional councilors, saying they had illustrated their "intention to return to Spain."

Puigdemont and four former ministers who fled Catalonia to Belgium are wanted in Spain for rebellion and sedition for orchestrating an outlawed independence referendum in October last year. In the wake of the referendum, Madrid imposed direct rule on the region and dissolved Catalonia's parliament.

'Rather be a president'

Earlier this week, the University of Copenhagen announced a debate entitled "Catalonia and Europe at a Crossroads for Democracy" for Monday. The university's spokesman said Puigdemont would attend "in person."

While Puigdemont is free to move around the EU at the moment, that could change if Spanish judges reissue an international arrest warrant for the Catalan politician and his accompanying associates.

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The former Catalan leader's party has said that it will try to have Puigdemont reinstated as the region's president and allow him to rule from exile. Madrid and experts on Catalan politics have warned that such an attempt lacks a legal route.

However, Puigdemont told Catalan public radio that "new technologies" could be used that would allow him to rule from exile.

"If I have to choose between being an inmate or a president, I'd rather be a president, even from afar," Puigdemont said. "At least now I can do things that I wouldn't be able to do in prison."

ls/ (AFP, EFE, AP)