Catalonia’s parliament announced on Tuesday that it would submit a request to the European Court of Human Rights (CEDH) in Strasbourg so that pro-independence leader Carles Puigdemont can be sworn in as the region’s president. Puigdemont is still in exile in Belgium. The Catalan parliament “will ask the CEDH to guarantee Mr. Puigdemont’s political rights and, concretely, his right to political participation,” a spokesman for the speaker of Catalonia’s parliament, Roger Torrent, said. He did not mention a date for the request.
"With the aim of protecting Mr. Puigdemont’s rights to introduce himself effectively at the inaugural debate, the speaker of the Catalan parliament will support a request for preventive measures at the European Court of Human Rights,” read a press release from the parliament, in which the pro-independence parties are in the majority.
Carles Puigdemont, for whom an arrest warrant has been issued in Spain, plans to govern Catalonia from Belgium. However, following an appeal by the Spanish government against his candidature, Spain’s Constitutional Court has imposed stringent conditions for a possible swearing in, demanding his presence at the debate.
The Brussels Times
