Former Catalan leader candidate for EP elections

By Yusuf Hatip </p> <p>BRUSSELS (AA) – Ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont announced Wednesday he will run in next month’s European Parliament (EP) elections.</p> <p>Speaking at a news conference in Belgium, where he fled after illegal elections, Puigdemont said he will be the first-row candidate of the Junts per Catalunya party.</p> <p>Puigdemont also announced the candidate list for the party.</p> <p>Former regional ministers Clara Ponsati and Toni Comin also participated in the news conference.</p> <p>Spain dissolved the Catalan parliament after the government there held an illegal referendum on independence in October 2017.</p> <p>Shortly afterward, then Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy implemented Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows Madrid to intervene in the internal affairs of the country’s autonomous regions.</p> <p>Puigdemont then fled Spain to Belgium before being briefly held in Germany for 12 days under an EU arrest warrant.</p> <p>He returned to Brussels after his release, where he has lived in exile.</p> <p>Six former Catalan politicians also fled Spain, while 12 faced trials in Madrid, which is continuing since Feb. 12. </p> <p>The prosecutor’s office in Madrid is demanding seven to 25 years in prison for nine detained and three provisional released suspects who were arrested on &quot;the uprising against the state&quot; charge.</p> <p>&quot;This is a trial in defense of democracy and the constitutional order, of a democratic political system that guarantees the rights and freedoms of all citizens who are part of this country,&quot; said Javier Zaragoza, the Supreme Court prosecutor on the second day of the trial.</p> <p><br> <br> </p> <p>