A Belgian judge on Wednesday ruled against extraditing former Catalan regional ministers who had fled to Brussels from Spain, where they face charges of rebellion and sedition for their alleged role in their region's failed bid for independence.

Toni Comín, Meritxell Serret and Lluis Puig's lawyers, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas and Gonzalo Boye, said the European Arrest Warrant issued by Spain had been rejected due to its irregularity, as no equivalent national warrant had been sent out.

"The prosecution and defense agreed the warrant had to be rejected and should not even be studied," said Alonso-Cuevillas.

Comín, Serret and Puig had been members of the Catalonia regional government when it was dissolved by the Spanish central state in response to a separatist referendum and the subsequent declaration of independence in Oct. 2017.

They fled to Belgium alongside former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who was recently detained and later released in Germany, a country that decided not to extradite him for rebellion but has ruled he may be sent to Spain to face charges of misuse of public funds.

Several other pro-independence figureheads are fighting extradition requests across Europe or remain in pre-trial detention in Spain, where they are facing decades-long prison sentences. </s> A Belgian court ruled on Wednesday that three former Catalan ministers would not be extradited to Spain, citing “faults” in the European Arrest Warrants issued by the Spanish government.

The former Cabinet ministers — Meritxell Serret, Toni Comín and Lluís Puig — fled to Belgium alongside former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in October 2017 to avoid arrest after declaring unilateral independence from Spain, following a referendum that was declared illegal by Madrid. The former ministers face charges of “rebellion” and “misuse of funds.”

The Belgian court denied the extradition request because Spain failed to issue new domestic arrest warrants before triggering the European Arrest Warrants, according to Belgian media reports.

Spain first issued European Arrest Warrants against the former ministers in December. They were then reactivated by an investigating judge on March 23, but were not based on new Spanish warrants.

Puigdemont, who is now in Germany awaiting a court decision on his own extradition to Spain, tweeted that the Belgian court’s decision is a sign “Europe grants [the ministers] the right to a fair trial, regardless of political opinions.”

The former Catalan leader has repeatedly called on the EU to help solve the Catalan crisis, insisting it is a European issue. </s> Apart from Puigdemont, the judge requested to order European arrest warrants for four former regional ministers Toni Comin, Meritxell Serret, Lluis Puig and Clara Ponsati, according to El Pais newspaper.

Earlier, Puigdemont said that he was ready for talks with the central government, and believed that his return would be evidence of the normalization of politics and democracy in Spain. </s> Madrid (AFP) - Spain's public prosecutor's office said Friday that it may appeal a German court's decision to reject the extradition of Catalonia's ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to the European Court of Justice.

The German court had issued the preliminary ruling on Thursday, refusing Spain's request to send Puigdemont back to be judged for rebellion over his role in the region's failed secession bid last October.

But in a rare statement on a foreign court's decision, the Spanish office said it was "certain" that the German court's final ruling will respect the principle of "mutual recognition" of judicial decisions that is inherent in the European arrest warrant system.

"In any case, the prosecutor's office will study the possibility of exercising the relevant actions to protect and defend the European legal order... before the European Court of Justice," it added.

Based in Luxembourg, the European Court of Justice enforces the law of the 28-nation European Union.

The German court ruled that rebellion was not punishable under German law, and the closest equivalent, high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence.

But the court is still to decide whether to send the former Catalan president to Spain to face trial for alleged misuse of public funds.

Even if he is extradited on the lesser charge, the German court's refusal to accept the rebellion charge means under European law Puigdemont cannot be prosecuted in Spain for the offence, which several Spanish law professors and rights groups have called extreme.

A senior judge close to the case told AFP before the statement was released that a "protest note" was being prepared in response to the German court's decision.

The court was "undermining European judicial cooperation", the judge said, adding that it was up to Spain's Supreme Court "to interpret the concept of violence" in this case.

The Supreme Court also said in a statement that its judge Pablo Llarena, who is in charge of investigating the role played by Catalonia's separatist leaders, was considering consulting the European Court of Justice on the procedure for extradition among EU member states.

Puigdemont walked out of a German prison on Friday following the ruling, calling for "political dialogue" with Madrid to resolve the row over the region's independence bid. </s> A European arrest warrant will be reissued for the fugitive former leader of Catalonia if he leaves Belgium and enters Denmark as planned, Spain’s state prosecutor’s office said.

The region’s ex-president Carles Puigdemont is scheduled to attend a debate at the University of Copenhagen on Monday.

The trip would be Mr Puigdemont’s first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a court summons in Spain for his role in a failed secession bid led by his government in October.

The state prosecutor said that if Mr Puigdemont enters Denmark as planned it will "immediately request" the Spain Supreme Court to issue a European warrant for his arrest by Danish authorities.

Spain issued a European warrant for Mr Puigdemont’s arrest in November, but withdrew it after a month.
A Belgian judge withdraws the European Arrest Warrant against Toni Comín, Lluís Puig and Meritxell Serret amid procedural defects and irregularities. The Supreme Court of Spain criticizes the decision as a "lack of commitment to Spain" from the Belgian justice.