BERLIN: Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to appear in court Monday following his arrest in Germany which triggered a wave of protests in Catalonia where thousands of separatists faced off with police.

German police arrested Puigdemont on Sunday, after he crossed the border from Denmark, under a European warrant issued by Spain. The arrest comes five months after Puigdemont went on the run as Spanish prosecutors sought to charge him with sedition and rebellion in the wake of a vote by the Catalan parliament to declare independence. According to his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, he was on his way to Belgium, where he fled after Spanish authorities moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia.

Puigdemont will be brought before a German judge Monday to confirm his identity and a court will then decide if he is to remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.

"It will take place in the course of the day, probably in the afternoon," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office for Schleswig-Holstein state told AFP.

Calling the situation "very delicate", Alonso-Cuevillas told Catalonia's Rac1 radio it was "very likely that he will not be allowed to leave Germany".

Clashes erupted as protesters took to the streets in Catalonia on Sunday following his arrest. Catalan police decked out in riot gear shoved and hit demonstrators with batons to keep the crowd from advancing on the office of the Spanish government's representative in Barcelona, the capital of the wealthy northeastern region. Officers fired warning shots in the air to try to contain the demonstrators, who pushed large recycling containers towards police. Some people threw glass bottles, cans and eggs at police. Some 90 people were slightly injured during the protests in Barcelona, including 22 police officers, emergency services said. Another seven people were injured at a protest in Lleida, about 150 kilometres west of Barcelona and one person was injured in Tarragona to the south.

It is the latest chapter in a secession saga that has bitterly divided Catalans and triggered Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

The case lands an unwanted diplomatic hot potato in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's lap less than two weeks after her new government was sworn in. Her spokesman insisted Monday that the decision on Puigdemont's extradition rested solely in the hands of the German regional justice authorities, while Spain had the right to decide how to handle the accusations against him and the broader Catalonia issue.

"Spain is a democratic state based on the rule of law. The German government is convinced that a solution to the Catalonia conflict has to be found within Spain's legal and constitutional order," he said.

When asked whether the case would weigh on relations with Spain, Seibert responded with a simple "no".

"It angers us that they arrested Puigdemont, he is our highest representative," 22-year-old architecture student Judit Carapena told AFP at the Barcelona protest.

Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent appealed for calm in an address broadcast on regional television.

"I have no doubt that Catalan society will act as it always has, with non-violence," he said.

Aside from Puigdemont, nine other Catalan separatist leaders are in jail in Spain over the region's failed bid for independence. His arrest came two days after Spain's supreme court issued international arrest warrants for 13 Catalan separatists including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull. The court said they would be prosecuted for "rebellion", a charge which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Twelve more face less serious charges like disobedience. Issuing the warrant for Puigdemont on Friday, Judge Pablo Llarena accused the ousted Catalan leader of organising an independence referendum in October last year despite a ban from Madrid.

The vote had been swiftly followed by the Catalan parliament's declaration of independence on October 27.

"It angers us that they arrested Puigdemont, he is our highest representative," 22-year-old architecture student Judit Carapena told AFP at the protest.

Spain's central government should not "sing victory because it is not the end of separatism, far from it", she added. Catalan parliament speaker Roger Torrent appealed for calm in an address broadcast on regional television. "I have no doubt that Catalan society will act as it always has, with non-violence," he said.

Aside from Puigdemont, nine other Catalan separatist leaders are in jail in Spain over the region's failed bid for independence. His arrest comes two days after Spain's supreme court issued international arrest warrants for 13 Catalan separatists including Puigdemont and his nominated successor Jordi Turull.

The court said they would be prosecuted for "rebellion", a charge which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Twelve more face less serious charges like disobedience. Issuing the warrant for Puigdemont on Friday, Judge Pablo Llarena accused the ousted Catalan leader of organising an independence referendum in October last year despite a ban from Madrid. The vote had been swiftly followed by the Catalan parliament's declaration of independence on October 27.

As Spanish authorities moved in to impose direct rule over the region, Puigdemont and four other separatist leaders fled to Belgium. A sixth one fled the country on Friday, reportedly to Switzerland. Hours after Puigdemont was detained in Germany, a spokesman from Police Scotland said one of them, Clara Ponsati, who has since gone to Scotland and is wanted for both rebellion and misuse of public funds, was "making arrangements" to surrender to authorities there. Puigdemont had been visiting Finland since Thursday, but slipped out of the Nordic country before Finnish police could detain him. Elsa Artadi, a lawmaker with Puigdemont's Together for Catalonia party, said that he should fight his extradition.

"Spain does not guarantee a fair trial; only revenge and repression," she wrote on Twitter.

While separatist parties won Catalonia's regional elections in December called by Madrid, they have been unable to elect a president and form a government as they have picked candidates who are now either in exile, in jail or facing prosecution. After Puigdemont was forced to withdraw his bid for the presidency as he could not return to Spain without facing arrest, another pro-independence leader Jordi Sanchez followed suit when a judge refused to let him out of jail to be sworn in. The third candidate, Turull, was placed in custody on Friday.

Fresh regional elections will be triggered if a new leader is not elected by May 22.</s>Carles Puigdemont junto a Clara Ponsatí en una fotografía de archivo. YVES HERMAN (REUTERS) EFE-Quality

La Policía Nacional detuvo este miércoles en Barcelona a tres de las cuatro personas que acompañaban a Carles Puigdemont cuando fue arrestado en Alemania el pasado domingo. A mediodía detenía a Xavier Goicoechea Fernández y a Carlos de Pedro López, los dos mossos que se turnaban para conducir el vehículo en el que viajaba el expresidente de la Generalitat rumbo a Bruselas. Por la tarde, al historiador y profesor universitario Josep Lluís Alay Rodríguez. Horas después de haber prestado declaración, los tres quedaron en libertad, acusados de encubrimiento, un delito que está penado con hasta tres años de prisión. Los arrestos fueron realizados por la Brigada Provincial de Información de Barcelona en el marco de las diligencias de investigación incoadas por la Fiscalía de la Audiencia Nacional.

De Pedro fue detenido a las 12.45 en el aeropuerto de El Prat, donde acaba de aterrizar en un vuelo procedente de Bruselas. Goicoechea fue detenido un cuarto de hora después en las inmediaciones de su domicilio, en Vilassar de Mar, a 24 kilómetros de la capital catalana. Alay fue arrestado a las 19.20 en Barcelona, donde llegó la noche del martes. La policía abrió la investigación contra ellos y el cuarto acompañante, el empresario Josep Maria Matamala, tras conocer que todos viajaban con Puigdemont.

Goicoechea está destinado en el departamento de escoltas de los Mossos, mientras que su compañero hace labores de seguridad ciudadana, según fuentes policiales. Ambos disfrutaban de días libres para asuntos personales cuando fueron localizados junto al expresidente. Alay es profesor en la Universidad de Barcelona, además de comisionado de Relaciones Internacionales de la Diputación de Barcelona. Había acompañado al expresident a Finlandia, como también había hecho en enero cuando se desplazó a Copenhague (Dinamarca).

La Policía Nacional envió el martes a la Fiscalía un informe en el que apuntaba que los cuatro acompañantes podían haber incurrido en alguna conducta delictiva al considerar que habían ayudado al expresidente de la Generalitat a sustraerse de la acción de la Justicia. Cuando fueron interceptados junto al expresidente ya era público que el juez del Tribunal Supremo Pablo Llarena había dictado dos días antes una orden europea de detención contra el político.

Los mossos fueron los encargados de conducir desde la localidad belga de Waterloo hasta Suecia el vehículo que el político utilizaba habitualmente en sus desplazamientos en Bélgica. Este trayecto de ida fue el que aprovechó el Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI) para poner bajo control el coche y, de este modo, conocer cuál iba a ser el recorrido que el político catalán pretendía seguir para retornar a Bélgica. En su primera comunicación a las autoridades españolas, Berlín ya detalló que el político iba acompañado de cuatro personas, aunque entonces no detalló sus identidades.</s>Spanish intelligence agents had been tracking the movements of the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont using the geolocation service on his friend’s mobile phone before he was detained in Germany at the weekend, according to reports.

Puigdemont was detained under a European arrest warrant in the northern German province of Schleswig-Holstein on Sunday morning as he journeyed by car from Helsinki to Brussels, where he has been living in self-imposed exile since Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence last October.

Sources in Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) told Spanish media outlets that the surveillance team had used the geolocation service on the mobile phone of at least one of Puigdemont’s companions to monitor his movements, as well as fitting a tracking device to the Renault Espace the group had been travelling in. Twelve CNI agents were involved in the operation.

Puigdemont was remanded in custody in Germany on Monday. The German authorities have 60 days in which to reach a decision on the extradition request, which Puigdemont opposed during a hearing. Spain wants to extradite him on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds in relation to that declaration.

The Madrid government, irked that Puigdemont was using his freedom of movement to address meetings about Catalan independence in Denmark, Switzerland and Finland, had hinted at plans to revoke Puigdemont’s passport when on Friday the Spanish supreme court judge Pablo Llarena revived the international warrant for his arrest that had been rescinded in December.

The tracking device on the Espace, which had Belgian number

plates, was fitted in Waterloo, the small Belgian town where the former president had installed himself in self-imposed exile, Spanish media reported.

Puigdemont had been visiting Finland since Thursday for talks with lawmakers, but when the car left Waterloo on Friday morning and began travelling north, they suspected that Puigdemont was planning to return to Belgium by car.

It appears that he took the ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm from where he began the car journey to the border between Denmark and Germany.

Ernst Walter, president of the German police union, said on Bayern 2 radio that he was surprised that Puigdemont was not detained in Denmark under the international arrest warrant, suggesting that the Madrid authorities had preferred to wait until he was on German soil.

Security sources told Spanish media there were four other people in the car with Puigdemont when it was stopped at a petrol station in Schleswig-Holstein.



One was the businessman Josep María Matamala Alsina, a close confidant of the former president who is said to be one of the people bankrolling Puigdemont’s life abroad.

The second was Josep Lluis Alay Rodríguez, a specialist in contemporary Tibetan and Mongolian history at the University of Barcelona who is also commissioner for international relations in the city’s provincial government, which claims he was he was there on official business.

Police sources told Spanish media that the other two, an off-duty member of the Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra police force, Xabier Goicoechea Fernández, and Carlos de Pedro López, were the drivers who had made the trip from Waterloo to Stockholm, a 995-mile (1,600km) journey that they covered in just over 24 hours.

Lluís Escolà, another off-duty Mossos officer who has been with Puigdemont since he fled to Belgium, claims he discovered the tracking device on the car two months ago and reported it to Belgian police.

Escolà also claimed Puigdemont was aware that he was being tracked but thought he could still make it back to Brussels before he was detained.</s>"First of all, we need to say that Puigdemont was arrested at the direction of the minister. They knew that he [Puigdemont] was in Finland and he had to leave by car, because if he had gone by plane he'd have been arrested right there. They were in Germany as they were following him and they thought it would be easier to arrest him in Germany and get him to Spain. And what's happening now is a fierce attempt to put on trial the leaders of all Catalan pro-independence parties. However, eventually, all their attempts will backfire as there will be an international line of battle, which they wanted to keep only between Spain and Catalonia," Surra said.

"If they agree the political issue should be settled in court, as the accusations against Puigdemont and others are false. Because there has never been any outbreak. That's why I think it'll backfire on the Spanish Government and it'll work for our benefit," the representative added.

"300 police officers have been sent to the protests in order to join the crowds. Moreover, Mossos d'Esquadra was ordered to beat the demonstrators, to beat their own people" Ana Surra emphasized.

In conclusion, she said: "Firstly, we showed that there has never been any violence on our part. It's emerging right now as they're planting their people. Secondly, the vice-president makes use of this chaos to continue charging and suppressing our independent channels that keep us updated on what's going on."

READ MORE: 9 People Detained in Barcelona Over Protests After Puigdemont's Arrest — Reports

On Sunday, Puigdemont, who is wanted in Spain for sedition and rebellion, was detained on a European arrest warrant in Germany while on his way to Belgium. It followed a Friday decision by Spanish Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena, who had activated a European arrest warrant for a number of Catalan politicians. This included Puigdemont, who was away in Finland at the time but had left for Belgium shortly thereafter.

READ MORE: Former Catalan President Puigdemont Detained in Germany

Puigdemont's arrest sparked protests across Catalonia, with about 50,000 people taking to the streets to show their support for their former leader.

On October 1, Catalonia held an independence referendum, which the central authorities did not recognize. After the regional parliament unilaterally announced independence later in October based on the results of the vote, Madrid imposed direct rule over the autonomous region, dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a snap election. Several pro-independence leaders were jailed, while Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid arrest.

READ MORE: Spanish Intelligence Kept Tabs on Puigdemont Before His Detention — Report

In November, a Spanish court issued a European Arrest Warrant for Puigdemont and several other former members of the Catalan government. The following month, however, Spain dropped the warrant, saying that the former Catalan president appeared willing to return.

The views and opinions expressed by Ana Surra are those of the expert and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.</s>BERLIN: German police on Sunday arrested Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont as he crossed over by car from Denmark.

Puigdemont "was arrested today at 11:19 am by Schleswig-Holstein's highway patrol force," a German police spokesman told AFP, adding that the detention was based on a European warrant.

"He is now in police custody", added the spokesman.

Puigdemont's party spokeswoman Anna Grabalosa also separately confirmed that he was detained on arrival in Germany from Denmark.

"It happened as he crossed the Danish-German border. He was treated well and all his lawyers are there. That is all I can say," she said.

Puigdemont is wanted by Spain on charges of "rebellion" and "sedition", over his independence bid for Catalan.

He had been visiting Finland since Thursday, but slipped out of the Nordic country before Finnish police could detain him.

Puigdemont's lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, said on Twitter that Puigdemont was picked up by German police as he was travelling back to Belgium where he has been living in self-imposed exile.</s>A court in Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein on Monday extended the remand of Carles Puigdemont. The Catalan leader was detained by police in the northern German state the day before. It's the first legal step in a possible extradition to Spain.

On Friday, Madrid reactivated a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont for the crime of rebelion, which denotes rebellion against the state. The former regional president of Catalonia faces up to 25 years in prison on sedition charges in Spain in connection with Catalonia's independence movement.

If the court decides that German authorities can keep Puigdemont, his case will be remanded to a higher regional court in the city of Schleswig, where he could face formal extradition proceedings. Germany must then decide whether to hand over the Catalan leader within 60 days — or 10 days if he himself agrees to his extradition. A court spokeswoman said it was unlikely that a decision could be reached on extradition proceedings before Easter.

On Monday, Puigdemont's attorney, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, told Catalonian radio that he did not plan to ask for political asylum in Germany. In the German government's Monday press conference in Berlin, an Interior Ministry spokesman said that it would be "very unusual" for a Spanish citizen to apply for political asylum in Germany.

Legal experts agree that Puigdemont's fate will likely be determined by the degree of convergence between German and Spanish law.

Under EU law, member states must honor European arrest warrants issued on behalf of member states. But states have the option of not extraditing a suspect if the act of which that person is accused is not a crime in the extraditing state.

Germany's criminal code includes the crime of high treason. Germany thus has little option but to hand over Puigdemont, if that offense is deemed equivalent to rebelion. It has been speculated that Spanish authorities' belief in the similarities between the two countries' legal systems is likely a reason why the Catalan leader was taken into custody in Germany.

"What matters is the content of a crime, not the specific name it has been given," said a German Justice Ministry spokeswoman at the government's press conference.

But she cautioned that it was up to regional courts in Schleswig-Holstein to make any necessary judgements about whether rebelion and treason were comparable offenses, should it come to extradition proceedings. One potential sticking point in the comparison could be the fact that treason in Germany is sometimes thought to presuppose the threat of physical violence against the state.

Puigdemont was detained after crossing from Denmark into Germany while traveling by car from Finland, where he had given a lecture, to Brussels, Belgium, where he had resided in exile since last October. Puigdemont had received signals that Belgian authorities would not extradite him to Spain.

Some have asked why the Catalan leader was first arrested in Germany when he had also driven through other EU member states, including Denmark, that could have executed the warrant.

Spanish media, including the newspaper El Pais, have reported that Spanish intelligence services had been keeping Puigdemont under surveillance and had specifically shared their information about his whereabouts with German authorities because of the history of good cooperation between Spanish and German law enforcement. El Pais quoted unnamed sources within the Spanish intelligence services as saying they had "excellent" relations with their German colleagues.

At the German government's press conference, spokespeople from the Interior and Justice ministries confirmed that there had been contact with Spanish colleagues but did not describe in detail what had led Schleswig-Holstein police to stop Puigdemont's vehicle.

A German police spokesman said on Monday that the officers involved had no option but to detain the Catalan leader.

"We are responsible for executing what the judicial system sets in motion," Federal Police Union Chairman Ernst Walter told AFP news agency.

The European Council Framework Decision of 2002, which governs European arrest warrants, states that they are to be adjudicated by the legal systems and not the political leaderships of the countries involved.

In other words, it's up to the courts — a position to which the German government was hewing the day after Puigdemont's detention. On Monday, Justice Minister Katarina Barley told German public TV that Berlin would not be intervening in the case.

On Sunday, Josep Costa, the vice president of the Catalonian parliament, told DW that the warrant was "without merit" and "politically motivated." He added that he hoped whatever court would decide Puigdemont's fate would not grant his extradition.

Andrej Hunko, from the opposition Left Party in Germany, called Puigdemont's arrest a "disgrace." But Robert Habeck of the opposition Greens said that his party supported the government's position.

"There's an international arrest warrant, and it's valid for us," Habeck told DW. "Whether it was correctly issued and whether the German judicial system will approve an extradition is something for the German judicial authorities to evaluate."

This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content was created separately to USA TODAY.</s>'Free our president' reads a sign in Catalan from a Puigdemont supporter in front of the jail where he is detained in Neumünster. Photo: DPA

Since Sunday, former Catalonian president Carles Puigdemont has been behind bars in northern Germany due to Spain issuing an arrest warrant for him. Will he be extradited, and when?

The set-up might seem like something out of an international thriller.

On Sunday, former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont was detained at the Danish border by German police - acting under an arrest warrant from Spain - as he tried to make his way back to Belgium, where he had lived in self-imposed exile for the last five months.

Puigdemont fled the Spanish autonomous region after the Spanish Constitutional Court did not recognize the results of a referendum he declared to separate it from the rest of Spain. Spain pointed out that the vote was in direct violation of the Spanish constitution.

Now Germany is deciding if it will send Puigdemont to Spain - and when.

Who is deciding on the case?

The Higher Regional Court in the German town of Schleswig - consulting with federal authorities - will decide whether to extradite Puigdemont. On Friday, Spain reissued an European Arrest Warrant - which typically hastens the process of deciding whether to extradite a citizen of an EU member state.

What are they deciding?

Prosecutors in Germany are exploring whether there are valid legal reasons to block Puigemont’s extradition.

Both German and Spanish law deem it illegal to defy the constitution or “the territorial integrity of the state,” reported Spanish newspaper El País in an article on Monday about the proceedings.

Legal expert Martin Heger told Spiegel on Monday that for Germany to extradite Puigdemont, one of the offences for which the EU member state is requesting extradition would also have to be punishable under German law. In this case, that shared offence is the misappropriation of public funds.

Authorities will also examine the German penalty code, says Heger, which in Paragraph 81 states that "high treason" is a punishable offence. They will compare it to Spanish law, which deems rebellion to be an offence as well. If they decide that the two are the same under both legal frameworks, then they would also have the grounds to extradite Puigdemont.

The Regional Court will also consider whether Puigdemont will remain in custody during the proceedings. While it’s possible that he could be granted bail, he would be required to remain in Germany under a provisional measure issued by the court.

When are they going to decide?

A judicial decision on the case this week is considered highly unlikely. In fact, due to its complicated nature, it could drag on for weeks.

Under German extradition laws, the case would need to be resolved within 60 days, according to Heger.

If the court decides in favour of extradition, it would need to take place within ten days. However, the process could be delayed if Puigemont’s lawyers in Germany argued for humanitarian reasons against his extradition. In case of any delay, Germany would be required to inform Eurojust, the European cooperation office.

Rulings can be delayed for quite some time. In May 2016, the UK called for the extradition of four German men for rigging interest rate benchmarks at Deutsche Bank AG. On Friday, a Frankfurt court blocked their extradition.

What happens if they extradite him?

While Puigdemont has the possibility to apply for political asylum in Germany, he does not plan to do so, his lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas told Catalonia’s Rac1 Radio.

If the Catalan is extradited to Spain, he faces charges of rebellion, which under Spanish law carries a sentence of 25 years, as well as sedition and misuse of public funds. Spain states that Puigdemont violated Article 155 of the Spanish constitution by calling for an illegal referendum in October 1st.

If he is not extradited, says Heger, he will essentially be a free man - able to travel anywhere within Germany and the EU.

Most leaders of the Catalan independence movement remain behind bars. But it is likely that Catalans will continue to take to the streets in protest, as they did on Sunday evening following Puigemont’s unexpected arrest.

Is he likely to be extradited?

Bundestag Vice President Claudia Roth said on Tuesday that the German judiciary would extradite Puigdemont to Madrid, “only if such an extradition was in compliance with European and German law.”

However, Germany has a history of green-lighting extradition, especially to countries with which it has close partnerships. In 2015, the country detained a total of 1,635 people wanted by other countries and extradited 1,283 of them, reported El País on Tuesday.</s>HELSINKI: Finnish police said today they were seeking to arrest Catalonia's former president Carles Puigdemont under a European arrest warrant issued by Spain, but did not know his whereabouts.

Puigdemont, who lives in self-imposed exile in Belgium, has been visiting Finland since Thursday for talks with lawmakers and had been due to leave on Saturday afternoon.

It was not known if he was still in the Nordic country.

"Finland has received a European arrest warrant for a Spanish citizen visiting Finland. The person concerned will be handled in a normal extradition procedure," Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in a statement.

"The person's whereabouts are not currently known to authorities," the statement said.

Puigdemont is wanted by Spain on charges of "rebellion" and "sedition".

Finnish police had earlier told AFP they were awaiting further information from Spanish authorities on the arrest warrant before acting on it.

"Spain provided the requested information to the National Bureau of Investigation," the NBI said in its statement.

The Finnish MP who organised Puigdemont's visit, Mikko Karna, told media he had not been in touch with him since Friday.

Puigdemont's lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas meanwhile told Catalunya Radio his client would not try to escape arrest.

"When the European arrest warrant was issued (a first time), he made himself available to the Belgian justice and police, and he would do the same thing now. I have not spoken to him yet but that is clear, yes."

In Barcelona, the Catalan parliament suspended its debates today after regional presidential candidate Jordi Turull, who had been due to seek a second-round vote in the parliament, was placed in custody over the region's breakaway bid.</s>Spanish cabinet’s spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said during a press conference that the United Nations will request Madrid to explain the situation with Puigdemont.

"We will do this, we will explain that he fled from justice to shun responsibility. But I want to remind you that sorting out this situation is up to the courts," he said.

The UN Human Rights Committee said that Spain has six months to offer its arguments, while Puigdemont is to state which measures he would like to be taken in case his complaint is satisfied.

READ MORE: 9 People Detained in Barcelona Over Protests After Puigdemont's Arrest – Reports

Earlier in March, Puigdemont, who is now in preliminary custody in Germany, on a European arrest warrant awaiting a court decision on his extradition to Spain, filed a complaint claiming that Spain violated his right to being elected and his freedom of association and expression.

On October 1, Catalonia held an independence referendum, which the central authorities did not recognize. After the regional parliament unilaterally announced independence later in October based on the results of the vote, Madrid imposed direct rule over the autonomous region, dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a snap election. Several pro-independence leaders were jailed, while Puigdemont fled to Belgium to avoid arrest, but was detained in Germany.

READ MORE: MP on Ex-Catalan President Puigdemont's Arrest: 'Fierce Attempt' by Madrid</s>Supporters of Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont are collecting money through a website to help fund his legal defense while he’s detained in Germany.

The website, announced on Thursday via Puigdemont’s official Twitter account, said the money collected will also go toward Puigdemont’s “security and logistical support,” as well as toward other separatists who left the country, facing criminal charges in Spain.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium last year following an independence push, was arrested in Germany on Sunday under a European arrest warrant issued by Spain on his way back to Belgium by car from Finland. He faces charges in Spain including rebellion and misuse of public funds over the separatist campaign, which included an independence referendum declared illegal by Madrid and a declaration of independence by the Catalan parliament.

Puigdemont’s lawyers have sent a letter to the German government, asking officials not to extradite him to Spain, according to German media. The letter states that the political reasons for Puigdemont’s prosecution are obvious, adding that they therefore “trust that the German justice system will prevent the extradition of Carles Puigdemont and his freedom will immediately be given back to him.”

Another crowdfunding campaign has so far raised more than £200,000 for former Catalan minister Clara Ponsati, who was arrested under a European arrest warrant in Scotland this week and later released on bail.
The Spanish National Police Corps arrest the two Mossos d'Esquadra and Asia History academic, Josep Lluís Alay, who accompanied Puigdemont in the van at the moment he was detained in Germany amid a crime of concealment. On 28 March were released.