The General Court of the European Union has rejected former head of the regional Catalan government Carles Puigdemont’s appeal against his ban from the European Parliament.
Puigdemont and Antoni Comín, Catalan separatist politicians involved in organizing a fraudulent referendum in 2017 and declaring Catalan independence against the wishes of over half of that region’s electorate, fled Spain to evade prosecution.
In July of 2018, Spain’s Supreme Court declared that the two had absconded from the law, leaving the criminal proceedings against them pending until their return to the country.
Thereafter, they were elected to the European Parliament, featuring on the list of candidates for their political party, Junts per Catalunya, during the European elections held in May of 2019 (and despite not daring to return to Catalonia).
They were, however, banned from acting as MEPs, given their status as fugitives. Later the same year, they appealed against this ban.
The recent decision by the EU General Court to strike down their appeal serves to uphold Spanish law.
