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A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 20 december 2019
EU court shakes Spain with ruling on jailed Catalan official

By LORNE COOK ment, which represents the
CIARAN GILES 28 member nations and sits
Associated Press in Brussels and Strasbourg,
BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe’s France.
top court ruled Thursday It’s unclear whether the
that a former vice presi- ECJ ruling might secure
dent of Spain’s Catalonia Junqueras’ release.
region who is serving a pris- Spain’s Supreme Court said
on sentence for launching it would study the full ruling
a banned independence and gave prosecutors and
referendum has the right to defense lawyers five days
parliamentary immunity. to present their arguments,
The European Court of after which a decision will
Justice ruling was seen as be made.
a major victory for the re- The case is likely to set an
gional politicians behind important precedent for
the October 2017 seces- fugitive former Catalan
sion referendum, many of leader Carles Puigdemont,
whom are in prison or living who was also elected to
in self-imposed exile as fu- the EU parliament in May
gitives from Spanish justice. and has been living in ex-
The referendum in the rela- ile in Belgium. Spain wants
tively wealthy northeast re- Russian police officers secure the area near the building of the Federal Security Service in the him extradited on charges
gion of 7.5 million people background in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. Associated Press of sedition and embezzle-
triggered Spain’s most se- ment.
rious political crisis in de- ropean Union court found the immunity” to travel to have won the European Puigdemont is the subject
cades. that former Catalan vice and take part in parliamen- Parliament seat. But Spain’s of a Spanish arrest warrant
In a separate ruling Thurs- president Oriol Junqueras tary sessions. Supreme Court refused to over the independence
day, a Catalan court held earned the right to immuni- After the verdict, Junquer- allow him to leave prison referendum but he has
that the region’s current ty when he was elected to as, 50, tweeted: “Justice to take an oath to respect also launched an appeal
president, Quim Torra, the European Parliament in has come from Europe. the Spanish Constitution, a at the ECJ. A court in Brus-
was unfit to hold office for May. Our rights and those of requirement for politicians sels ruled earlier this week
18 months for disobeying The ECJ said that people 2,000,000 citizens who vot- to take up their seats as EU that it would await the out-
Spain’s electoral board. like Junqueras who are ed for us have been violat- lawmakers come of his European case
The decision could lead to elected as EU lawmakers ed. Annulment of the sen- The Spanish electoral com- before deciding whether
another regional election. “enjoy, from the moment tence and freedom for all! mission later declared Jun- to extradite Puigdemont.
The Luxembourg-based Eu- the results are declared, Persist as we have done!” queras’ seat vacant and At his residence out-
Junqueras was sentenced suspended his parliamen- side Brussels on Thursday,
in October to 13 years in tary prerogatives. Puigdemont and former
prison for sedition. Eleven of However, the European Catalan health minister
his associates were found court said that while Span- Toni Comin cheered and
guilty and eight of them ish law governs electoral applauded the verdict
also received prison terms. procedures, EU law takes along with other regional
He was in pretrial detention over once a person is elect- politicians joining them by
when he was declared to ed to the European Parlia- teleconference.q

Russian security officer dead, 5 injured

in Moscow shooting

vice, or FSB, said the assail-
ant was acting alone and
didn't enter its building.
Earlier, it said the assailant
had been "neutralized" — a
term usually used by Rus-
sian officials when an as-
sailant is killed.
The FSB said the shoot-
ing occurred near its main
headquarters on Lubyanka
Square , less than one kilo-
Russian police officers secure the area near the building of the meter (about a half-mile)
Federal Security Service in the background in Moscow, Russia,
Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019. from Red Square.
Associated Press Vladimir Putin's spokes-
man, Dmitry Peskov, said
Associated Press Russia's top security agen- the president had been in-
MOSCOW (AP) — An un- cy, killing one officer and formed of the shooting that
identified gunman opened wounding five others, offi- came shortly after the Rus-
fire Thursday outside the cials said. sian leader's annual news
Moscow headquarters of The Federal Security Ser- conference.q