Deposed Catalan leader could stay in Belgium for three months

BRUSSELS AFP Nov4, 2017- It could take three months for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his ex-ministers to be returned to Spain under a European arrest warrant, Belgian authorities said Saturday.   Spanish prosecutors want to charge Puigdemont with rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds over his role in the region’s tumultuous independence drive, but the 54-year-old is in Brussels and has ignored a summons to appear in Madrid.   

A Spanish judge has issued European arrest warrants for Puigdemont as well as Maria Serret Aleu, Antoni Comin Oliveres, Luis Puig Gordi and Clara Ponsati Obiols, according to the Belgian public prosecutor’s office, confirming it had received them.