Puigdemont traveled to Sardinia to attend a folklore festival and negotiate with local politicians. Sardinia is one of the regions where some politicians are trying to assert independence from Italy. “When he landed at Alghero airport, he was detained by the police,” Puigdemont’s parliamentary office said in a statement. The court in Sassari should then decide whether the policy will go to Spain or not.
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Puigdemont is a Member of the European Parliament, which, however, waived his parliamentary immunity. The Catalan politician objected to the decision in a court that has not yet ruled on it.
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Puigdemont lives permanently in Belgium, which has refused to extradite him to Spain. There, prosecutors want to try him for holding a referendum on independence in October 2017 and other activities in favor of Catalonia’s independence.
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Other members of the then Catalan government were sentenced to many years in prison for holding a referendum in 2017. In June this year, the Spanish government approved a pardon for imprisoned Catalan politicians, who were released. However, the pardon does not apply to Puigdemont or other accused politicians who fled abroad in court.
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