“Our client was arrested yesterday in the hospital where he was due to heart problems. The arrest warrant was issued by investigating judge Michel Klez,” his lawyer, Dimitri De Beco, said in a statement sent to Politico.
De Beco said that Cozzolino has now returned home, but is under house arrest. The MP opposed his extradition to Belgium because of the “mode of production” of Belgian justice, the statement said. Cozzolino’s legal team claimed to have written to the judge several times since December 21 to be heard, but never received a response.
Cozzolino’s extradition hearing will take place on Tuesday morning. Early Friday morning, the Belgian authorities launched an operation to detain Belgian MEP Mark Tarabella. At a plenary session of the European Parliament, Cozzolino and Tarabella’s immunity was lifted, which allowed Belgian investigators to detain them.
Belgian police searched Cozzolino’s home in Brussels and sealed, but did not search his office at the European Parliament. In addition, Tarabella’s safe at a bank in Liège was searched, as well as several offices in the Walloon city of Antis, where Tarabella is still mayor.
According to parliamentary reports, Tarabella and Cozzolino’s potential violations of Belgian law could include corruption, participation in a criminal organization and money laundering. However, in Friday’s report, the prosecutor’s office only mentioned corruption and money laundering.
At the end of last week, the Belgian investigator in charge of the case released from prison one of the first four detainees in the case – Niccolò Figa-Talamanca, secretary general of one of the No Peace Without Justice non-governmental organizations associated with the Qatargate corruption scandal.
Three other suspects – former Vice President of the European Parliament Eva Cailli, her partner Francesco Giorgi and former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri – are in prison. In January, Pantseri entered into a cooperation agreement with the investigation.
