The Latest on fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont (all times local):

A Spanish judge has rejected a petition from the country's prosecutor to ask Danish authorities to arrest ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

Puigdemont arrived Monday in Copenhagen from Brussels to speak at the University of Copenhagen. He was to meet Danish lawmakers on Tuesday.

The trip is Puigdemont's first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a Spanish probe for his role in an illegal— and unsuccessful— secession bid for Catalonia in October.

Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena says in his decision that Puigdemont wants to be arrested overseas so he can blame on Spain his absence from a meeting of the Catalan parliament later this month in which he is the candidate to be sworn in as the region's president.

Spain's foreign minister says that "for the moment" ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is free to move in Europe outside of Spain, adding that his arrest was a matter for judges to decide.

Puigdemont flew Monday to Copenhagen from Belgium, where he has been since fleeing a Spanish investigation into the Catalan parliament's secession declaration last year.

Spain's prosecutors promptly asked a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest but the judge has yet to decide.

Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said in Brussels that "Mr. Puigdemont is subject to a process in Spain. Outside, for the moment, his movements are free within the European Union, but we'll see."

Spanish courts initially sought Puigdemont's extradition from Belgium but canceled that petition amid concerns that Belgium might send him back but restrict the crimes with which he could be charged.

The speaker of Catalonia's parliament has proposed former regional leader Carles Puigdemont as candidate to form a government, despite his status as a fugitive from Spanish justice.

Puigdemont arrived in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, on Monday to talk at a university there and meet Danish lawmakers. It is his first trip outside of Belgium since he left Spain dodging a judicial investigation into an illegal — and unsuccessful — independence declaration in late October.

Spain's state prosecutor is seeking his arrest in Denmark. A Spanish judge is yet to rule on the European warrant.

Catalan Parliament Speaker Roger Torrent says that Puigdemont is the only candidate with enough backing to attempt a government following regional elections last month.

Torrent says he has written asking Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to meet and talk about the "abnormal situation" in Catalonia.

Spain's state prosecutor has set in motion the process to arrest Catalonia's former leader in Denmark, where he has arrived to attend a debate.

Ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is scheduled to speak Monday at the University of Copenhagen and meet Danish lawmakers on Tuesday.

The trip is Puigdemont's first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a Spanish probe for his role in an illegal— and unsuccessful— secession bid for Catalonia in October.

The prosecutor's office says it has asked the Supreme Court to approve a European warrant for his arrest. It's unclear if Judge Pablo Llarena will grant it. In December, Llarena withdrew a similar order, concerned that Brussels would send Puigdemont back to Spain but restrict the crimes with which he could be charged.

The fugitive former leader of Catalonia has arrived in Denmark, despite threats from Spain to seek his immediate arrest there.

On Sunday, Spain's state prosecutor's office said it will reissue a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont if he travels from Belgium to Denmark.

Spain issued a warrant for Puigdemont's arrest in November, but withdrew it after a month amid fears that Brussels would send him back but restrict the crimes he could be tried for.

Puigdemont is being investigated by Spain over a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia's parliament on Oct. 27.

He is slated to take part in a debate at the University of Copenhagen Monday, and Tuesday he has been invited to the Danish Parliament by a Faeroese lawmaker, but leading members of the government and opposition have declined to meet him. </s> Prosecutors in Germany are to seek a warrant to extradite the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to Spain.

Mr Puigdemont was detained by German authorities last month at the Danish border.

The former regional leader is wanted in Spain, where he faces charges of 'rebellion' and misuse of public funds - accusations arising from his role in the disputed Catalan independence referendum.

Mr Puigdemont has been in self-imposed exile from Catalonia and Spain since late last year.

Facing a European arrest warrant, prosecutors in Germany will now seek a court's permission to extradite Mr Puigdemont.

In a statement, officials said: "The prosecutor's office of Schleswig-Holstein state applied for an extradition arrest warrant against former Catalonian regional president Carles Puigdemont from the Higher Regional Court in Schleswig-Holstein."

The prosecutors said the rebellion charges - defined as 'an unconstitutional act despite expectations of violent disturbances' - have a general equivalent in German law, which is among the requirements for extradition applications.

It is not yet known when the German court will make its decision.

Associated Press reports that the former regional lawyers' will ask the court to reject the decision, and have also called on the German government to intervene over the case's 'political dimension' in Spain. </s> A European arrest warrant will be reissued for the fugitive former leader of Catalonia if he leaves Belgium and enters Denmark as planned, Spain’s state prosecutor’s office said.

The region’s ex-president Carles Puigdemont is scheduled to attend a debate at the University of Copenhagen on Monday.

The trip would be Mr Puigdemont’s first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a court summons in Spain for his role in a failed secession bid led by his government in October.

The state prosecutor said that if Mr Puigdemont enters Denmark as planned it will "immediately request" the Spain Supreme Court to issue a European warrant for his arrest by Danish authorities.

Spain issued a European warrant for Mr Puigdemont’s arrest in November, but withdrew it after a month. </s> The Latest on fugitive Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont (all times local):

Spain's state prosecutor has set in motion the process to arrest Catalonia's former leader in Denmark, where he has arrived to attend a debate.

Ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is scheduled to speak Monday at the University of Copenhagen and meet Danish lawmakers on Tuesday.

The trip is Puigdemont's first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a Spanish probe for his role in an illegal— and unsuccessful— secession bid for Catalonia in October.

The prosecutor's office says it has asked the Supreme Court to approve a European warrant for his arrest. It's unclear if Judge Pablo Llarena will grant it. In December, Llarena withdrew a similar order, concerned that Brussels would send Puigdemont back to Spain but restrict the crimes with which he could be charged.

The fugitive former leader of Catalonia has arrived in Denmark, despite threats from Spain to seek his immediate arrest there.

On Sunday, Spain's state prosecutor's office said it will reissue a European arrest warrant for Carles Puigdemont if he travels from Belgium to Denmark.

Spain issued a warrant for Puigdemont's arrest in November, but withdrew it after a month amid fears that Brussels would send him back but restrict the crimes he could be tried for.

Puigdemont is being investigated by Spain over a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia's parliament on Oct. 27.

He is slated to take part in a debate at the University of Copenhagen Monday, and Tuesday he has been invited to the Danish Parliament by a Faeroese lawmaker, but leading members of the government and opposition have declined to meet him. </s> COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Spain’s prosecutors Monday asked the country’s Supreme Court to issue a European arrest and extradition order against Catalonia’s fugitive former leader after he arrived in Denmark.

Carles Puigdemont flew to Copenhagen from Belgium, where he has been since fleeing a Spanish investigation after the Catalan parliament’s secession declaration on Oct. 27. He is due to attend a university debate in Copenhagen later Monday.

He was immediately surrounded by media, but he made no comment before he got into a car that drove him away to an undisclosed location.

His trip also came as Catalonia’s parliamentary speaker proposed him as a candidate to form a government despite his status as a fugitive.

It remains to be seen whether Spanish Judge Pablo Llarena will issue the European warrant and ask Danish authorities to arrest him.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said the matter was for judges to decide.

“Mr. Puigdemont is subject to a process in Spain. Outside, for the moment, his movements are free within the European Union, but we’ll see,” Dastis said in Brussels.

The push by the Catalan government, while Puigdemont was regional president, triggered Spain’s most serious political crisis in decades. Spain ousted Puigdemont’s Cabinet, dissolved the regional parliament and called the December regional elections as part of special powers invoked following the independence declaration.

He and his 13 former Cabinet members face possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement, which carry jail sentences of up to 30 years under Spanish law.

Despite Puigdemont’s legal situation, Catalan parliamentary speaker Roger Torrent said Monday that the former president was the only candidate with enough backing to attempt a new government following the regional election last month.

Torrent said that he has written to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to request a meeting to talk about the “abnormal situation” in Catalonia.

Puigdemont faces immediate arrest if he returns to Spain and, if he remains abroad, central authorities in Madrid say they will block any attempt he might make to be Catalonia’s president in absentia.

Rajoy has even threatened to maintain special constitutional powers to keep direct control of the region, a move that his government sought after the Oct. 27 unilateral independence declaration by a slim majority of Catalan separatist lawmakers.

Puigdemont was slated to take part in a debate at the University of Copenhagen on Monday. On Tuesday, he has been invited to the Danish Parliament by a Faeroese lawmaker, although leading members of the government and opposition have declined to meet with him.

Spanish courts initially sought Puigdemont’s extradition from Belgium but canceled that petition amid concerns that Belgium might send him back but restrict the crimes with which he could be charged. The judge might not re-issue the arrest order for the same reasons.

Associated Press writers Aritz Parra and Ciaran Giles contributed to this report from Madrid. </s> Carles Puigdemont, the deposed Catalan president, was on Sunday detained by police at the German border after Spain reactivated an international warrant for his arrest on charges of rebellion over October’s referendum and declaration of independence.

Mr Puigdemont’s lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, said he was detained while crossing the border from Denmark by car on his way back to Belgium from Finland, where he had travelled to speak at an event.

"By now he is in a police station and his legal defence has already been activated," Mr Alonso-Cuevillas said.

The Spanish Supreme Court reissued European Arrest Warrants for Mr Puigdemont and four members of his former cabinet on Friday after charging 13 Catalan independence leaders with rebellion and misappropriation of funds.

The charges could see them jailed for up to 30 years. International arrest warrants were issued for two other separatist politicians, Ana Gabriel and Marta Rovira, who are currently in self-imposed exile in Switzerland.

If Mr Puigdemont does not consent to his extradition to Spain, the request will go before the German courts, a process for which he could be remanded in custody. </s> Spanish Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena on Monday rejected a request by the Spanish state prosecutor’s office for a European arrest warrant for exiled former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. Puigdemont travelled from Belgium to Denmark on Monday to attend a conference at a university, Xinhua news agency reported. Llanera argued that Puigdemont’s visit to Denmark was a strategy for the former Catalan leader to be arrested in order to “force a context in which he would be able to delegate his vote as if he was in the same situation as those who are currently at the disposition of this court and who have been provisionally denied their liberty.”

This is a reference to Puigdemont’s former deputy Oriol Junqueras and the representatives in the Catalan regional assembly, Joaquim Form and Jordi Sanchez, who have been able to delegate their vote in the assembly elected on December 21, even though they are in prison facing charges of rebellion, sedition; while Junqueras faces trial for the misuse of public funds. Llanera argued that Puigdemont’s trip had “no other aim other than to provoke his arrest” to allow him to participate in the forthcoming investiture debate.

Puigdemont has been in exile in Belgium since the start of November after leaving Spain in the wake of the Catalan independence referendum and unilateral declaration of independence. The Supreme Court had previously issued a European arrest warrant when he originally travelled to Belgium only to withdraw it because Belgium does not have a crime which is the exact equivalent of rebellion. </s> BARCELONA, Spain -- Fugitive former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont is being held by German police on a Spanish arrest warrant after trying to cross into Germany from Denmark.

Police in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein said highway police arrested Puigdemont on Sunday morning near the A7 highway that leads from Denmark into Germany.

They said "Mr. Puigdemont is currently in police custody" and refused to give further details.

His lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, confirmed to the Associated Press that German police stopped Puigdemont on Sunday when he was crossing the border. He says Puigdemont is at a police station.

Alonso-Cuevillas says Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium where he has been staying since fleeing Spain following a failed bid by his regional government in October to declare independence from Spain.

A Spanish Supreme Court judge charged 13 Catalan separatist politicians with rebellion Friday for their attempts to make the region independent of Spain, dealing a heavy blow to the secessionist movement. The judge ordered international arrest warrants for the six Catalan officials who are fugitives, including Puigdemont.

Puigdemont faces charges of rebellion and sedition in Spain that could lead to 30 years in prison, BBC News reports. </s> The region’s ex-president Carles Puigdemont is scheduled to attend a debate at the University of Copenhagen on Monday.

The trip would be Mr Puigdemont’s first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a court summons in Spain for his role in a failed secession bid led by his government in October.

The state prosecutor said that if Mr Puigdemont enters Denmark as planned it will “immediately request” the Spain Supreme Court to issue a European warrant for his arrest by Danish authorities.
Carles Puigdemont, ex-President of Catalonia, travels to Denmark while Spanish Attorney General requests the European Arrest Warrant. The Speaker of the Catalan Parliament appoints Puigdemont to be invested as President. Spain's Supreme Court refuses to reactivate the arrest warrant.