The European Parliament has voted to strip the immunity from prosecution from Carles Puigdemont and two other Catalan separatist lawmakers Spain has charged with sedition.
The chamber announced on Tuesday that EU lawmakers had voted clearly in favour of waiving the immunity of Catalonia's former regional head of government and two former cabinet members, Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati.
Puigdemont's immunity was lifted by 400 votes to 248, while those of Toni Comin and Clara Ponsati were removed by 404 votes to 247, the parliament said.
Puigdemont and Comin, who are in self-imposed exile in Belgium, formally became members of the European Parliament in June 2019, while Ponsati, who is in Scotland, was officially a member from January 2020.
All are subject to European arrest warrants issued by Spain, which is seeking their extradition related to their role in organising a 2017 independence referendum deemed illegal by a Spanish court.
Belgium has so far denied Spain's requests. A court in January refused to extradite Lluis Puig, another former member of the Catalan government living in Belgium, over charges of misuse of public funds.
Various independence leaders were convicted in Spain of the same charge of sedition in 2019 and sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.
Spain's top diplomat on Tuesday hailed the European Parliament's decision, saying it showed the Catalonia issue was to be resolved within Spain.
The decision sends "a message that the problems of Catalonia are to be resolved within Spain and not at a European level", Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters in a statement.
Puigdemont, however, called the vote "a sad day for the European Parliament", saying it was "a clear case of political persecution".
"We have lost our immunity but the European Parliament has lost something more: European democracy," he added.
The European Parliament noted in a report issued before the vote on Monday that the acts and prosecution pre-date their becoming members of the parliament in June 2019 and for Ponsati in January 2020.
It also said it was for national judicial systems of EU countries to determine criminal proceedings.
Parliament's legal affairs committee voted last month that immunity from prosecution should be waived. In each case, the vote was 15 in favour, eight against and two abstentions.
(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)
