A Spanish Supreme Court judge has dropped his extradition requests for six Catalan separatist politicians wanted on rebellion charges.
They include Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia’s ex-regional president who fled to Belgium to avoid arrest and then went to Germany.
The moves comes after a German court recently ruled Puigdemont couldn’t be sent back to Spain for rebellion, only for misuse of public funds.
Judge Pablo Llarena said in a decision published Thursday that he’s revoking the international arrest warrants against the six, in what the Catalan separatist movement was likely to regard as a major victory against Spain’s central authorities.
The charges are in connection with the Catalan regional government’s unauthorized referendum last year on independence from Spain and a subsequent unilateral declaration of independence by the separatist-controlled regional parliament.
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