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> German prosecutors have applied for the extradition of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain, where he has been accused of rebellion and corruption.

State prosecutors on Friday said they made the formal request for extradition at the upper regional court of the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

Puigdemont was arrested as he entered Germany on a Spanish-issued warrant in late March.

The former Catalan president fled Spain for Belgium in October after his administration's declaration of independence from Spain led to the central government in Madrid taking direct control of the regional government.

He is wanted in Spain for alleged misuse of public funds in relation to Catalonia's independence declaration, as well as "rebellion" in organising a referendum that Madrid deemed illegal.

In April, the Schleswig-Holstein court ruled that Puigdemont could not be extradited for rebellion, because the comparable German treason charge requires the defendant to have committed violence.

But last month, prosecutors said they had received new video evidence showing violence against Spanish police which made extradition on the charge possible.

"The material delivered by the Spanish authorities is not contradictory, but clearly shows that the violence in Catalonia on election day can be attributed to the wanted individual," prosecutors said in a statement.

The court will make the final decision on whether Puigdemont will be returned to Spain.

Puigdemont has denied his charges.

Madrid's takeover of Catalonia is set to end on Saturday when a new regional government will be sworn in. </s> German state prosecutors have made a formal request for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to be extradited to Spain.

The request at the upper regional court of the state of Schleswig-Holstein on Friday stated that the public prosecutors held the request from Madrid to be admissible.

Puigdemont was arrested in March in Germany on the way back by road from an appearance in Finland, based on Madrid's extradition request on charges of rebellion after he went ahead with an independence referendum in Catalonia in October that Madrid deemed unconstitutional.

The court had previously ruled that the extradition on the basis of rebellion was not permissible, because the comparable German charge of treason stipulates that the defendant must have committed violence.

The prosecution said last month it had received new evidence, namely videos showing violence against Spanish police.

The riots depicted "were on such a scale" that Puigdemont should be extradited on charges of rebellion, the prosecutors said. </s> BERLIN (Reuters) - German prosecutors have formally applied to a higher regional court for the extradition of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on charges linked to his role in the campaign for the region’s independence, they said on Friday.

It is now up to the higher regional court in Schleswig-Holstein to decide on the extradition. </s> The public prosecutor for Germany's northern state of Schleswig-Holstein announced on Tuesday that it had requested the extradition of former Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont.

Read more: Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont detained in Germany

Puigdemont is being charged in Spain with rebellion and misuse of public funds, for his involvement in the Catalan independence referendum of October 2017. The former leader was living in self-imposed exile in Belgium and was in Finland on March 24, when Spain reactivated the European arrest warrant against him. Puigdemont was arrested when he entered Germany on March 25, as he was making his way back to Belgium.

Puigdemont's case has now gone to Schleswig-Holstein's highest court, where a so-called senate of three judges will decide whether the request for extradition has the necessary substance and whether Puigdemont should continue to be held.

"At the moment, it is too early to say when a decision by the Senate for Criminal Matters on the application for the extradition arrest warrant may be expected," the court said in a statement.

The German government said on March 30 that it would not interfere or veto any court decision on Puigdemont's fate, as the act would be considered a "legal affront" by the federal government against the judicial system.

Charge of rebellion amounts to high treason in Germany

Whether or not Puigdemont will be extradited hinges upon whether the crimes he's accused of in Spain are also illegal in Germany. In a press statement, the prosecutor's office said that the Spanish crime of rebellion was the equivalent of the German offense of high treason, even though the two laws in question were worded differently.

Prosecutors also argued that it was reasonable for Puigdemont to be brought up on charges of misuse of public funds since the Catalonia independence referendum cost more than a million and a half euros.

Read more: German lawyer says Berlin cannot extradite former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont

The prosecutors said that Puigdemont should continue to be kept in custody because he represents a flight risk.

After Puigdemont's arrests, supports of the Catalonian leader took to the streets in various cities in Spain and Germany to demand his release. Members of Germany's Left Party have also visited Puigdemont in the prison where he is being held in the northern German city of Neumünster.

"The Spanish judicial system has obviously cobbled together a politically motivated charge in accusing Puigdemont of misusing state funds for carrying out the referendum," said the Left Party's Sevim Dagdelen in a statement. "The Catalonia conflict should be solved politically instead of further criminalizing those involved in it."

The other German parties have said that Puigdemont's extradition is a matter for German courts. According to the guidelines of European law, Puigdemont's case should be decided within 60 days of his arrest, although no date has been set for the higher court in Schleswig-Holstein to render its decision. Puigdemont has the option of filing a challenge to Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, should the decision go against him.

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Prosecutors in Germany are seeking the extradition of former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain, where he could face trial for his role in organising an independence referendum.

Prosecutors in Germany are seeking the extradition of former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain, where he could face trial for his role in organising an independence referendum.

Mr Puigdemont was detained in Germany on March 25 as he attempted to drive from Finland to Belgium, where he currently resides.

Prosecutors in the northern town of Schleswig said they have asked the regional court to formally put him in pre-extradition custody following “intensive examination” of the European arrest warrant issued by Spain’s supreme court on March 23. If the court agrees to the request, prosecutors would still need to issue an order signing off on Mr Puigdemont’s extradition.

In addition to rebellion, Madrid accuses the 55-year-old of misuse of public funds. Schleswig prosecutors said in a statement they consider the charge of rebellion to have an equivalent in German law – one of the requirements for extradition to take place.

“The accusation of rebellion contains at its core the allegation of carrying out an unconstitutional referendum despite expectations of violent disturbances,” the prosecutors said. They noted that during a meeting with police on September 28, Mr Puigdemont was warned that violence might escalate on the day of the October 1 referendum, but his government went through with it anyway.

In an interview from jail, published on Monday, Mr Puigdemont insisted the campaign for the Spanish region’s independence was nonviolent. The Schleswig court is likely to take several days to decide on the prosecutors’ request. </s> A court in Neumünster in Schleswig-Holstein on Monday extended the remand of Carles Puigdemont. The Catalan leader was detained by police in the northern German state the day before. It's the first legal step in a possible extradition to Spain.

On Friday, Madrid reactivated a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont for the crime of rebelion, which denotes rebellion against the state. The former regional president of Catalonia faces up to 25 years in prison on sedition charges in Spain in connection with Catalonia's independence movement.

If the court decides that German authorities can keep Puigdemont, his case will be remanded to a higher regional court in the city of Schleswig, where he could face formal extradition proceedings. Germany must then decide whether to hand over the Catalan leader within 60 days — or 10 days if he himself agrees to his extradition. A court spokeswoman said it was unlikely that a decision could be reached on extradition proceedings before Easter.

On Monday, Puigdemont's attorney, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, told Catalonian radio that he did not plan to ask for political asylum in Germany. In the German government's Monday press conference in Berlin, an Interior Ministry spokesman said that it would be "very unusual" for a Spanish citizen to apply for political asylum in Germany.

Legal experts agree that Puigdemont's fate will likely be determined by the degree of convergence between German and Spanish law.

Under EU law, member states must honor European arrest warrants issued on behalf of member states. But states have the option of not extraditing a suspect if the act of which that person is accused is not a crime in the extraditing state.

Germany's criminal code includes the crime of high treason. Germany thus has little option but to hand over Puigdemont, if that offense is deemed equivalent to rebelion. It has been speculated that Spanish authorities' belief in the similarities between the two countries' legal systems is likely a reason why the Catalan leader was taken into custody in Germany.

"What matters is the content of a crime, not the specific name it has been given," said a German Justice Ministry spokeswoman at the government's press conference.

But she cautioned that it was up to regional courts in Schleswig-Holstein to make any necessary judgements about whether rebelion and treason were comparable offenses, should it come to extradition proceedings. One potential sticking point in the comparison could be the fact that treason in Germany is sometimes thought to presuppose the threat of physical violence against the state.

Puigdemont was detained after crossing from Denmark into Germany while traveling by car from Finland, where he had given a lecture, to Brussels, Belgium, where he had resided in exile since last October. Puigdemont had received signals that Belgian authorities would not extradite him to Spain.

Some have asked why the Catalan leader was first arrested in Germany when he had also driven through other EU member states, including Denmark, that could have executed the warrant.

Spanish media, including the newspaper El Pais, have reported that Spanish intelligence services had been keeping Puigdemont under surveillance and had specifically shared their information about his whereabouts with German authorities because of the history of good cooperation between Spanish and German law enforcement. El Pais quoted unnamed sources within the Spanish intelligence services as saying they had "excellent" relations with their German colleagues.

At the German government's press conference, spokespeople from the Interior and Justice ministries confirmed that there had been contact with Spanish colleagues but did not describe in detail what had led Schleswig-Holstein police to stop Puigdemont's vehicle.

A German police spokesman said on Monday that the officers involved had no option but to detain the Catalan leader.

"We are responsible for executing what the judicial system sets in motion," Federal Police Union Chairman Ernst Walter told AFP news agency.

The European Council Framework Decision of 2002, which governs European arrest warrants, states that they are to be adjudicated by the legal systems and not the political leaderships of the countries involved.

In other words, it's up to the courts — a position to which the German government was hewing the day after Puigdemont's detention. On Monday, Justice Minister Katarina Barley told German public TV that Berlin would not be intervening in the case.

On Sunday, Josep Costa, the vice president of the Catalonian parliament, told DW that the warrant was "without merit" and "politically motivated." He added that he hoped whatever court would decide Puigdemont's fate would not grant his extradition.

Andrej Hunko, from the opposition Left Party in Germany, called Puigdemont's arrest a "disgrace." But Robert Habeck of the opposition Greens said that his party supported the government's position.

"There's an international arrest warrant, and it's valid for us," Habeck told DW. "Whether it was correctly issued and whether the German judicial system will approve an extradition is something for the German judicial authorities to evaluate."

This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content was created separately to USA TODAY. </s> German prosecutors have asked a court to permit the extradition of former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain.

Prosecutors in the northern town of Schleswig said on Tuesday they have submitted a request to the regional court following “intensive examination” of the European arrest warrant issued by Spain.

Puigdemont has been detained in Germany since 25 March. Spain accuses the 55-year-old of rebellion in organising an unauthorised referendum.

The Schleswig court is likely to take several days to decide whether to extradite Puigdemont.

His lawyers have urged the German government to intervene in the case, citing the “political dimension.” </s> Germany's federal prosecutors said Friday they have filed a formal request to extradite deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont to Spain, where he faces charges of rebellion and corruption.

"The material delivered by the Spanish authorities is not contradictory, but clearly shows that the violence in Catalonia on election day can be attributed to the wanted individual," prosecutors said in a statement, defending the controversial rebellion charge.

A final decision on whether Puigdemont would be sent back to Spain would still have to come from the court.

Puigdemont was detained in Germany in late March on a European arrest warrant from Spain for his role in Catalonia's failed independence bid last October.

He had been living in self-exile in Belgium since then but was travelling through Germany when he was arrested.

Madrid wants Puigdemont to return to Spain so he can face trial for alleged rebellion, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years.

A court in Schleswig-Holstein had released him on bail on April 6 after finding that he could not be extradited for rebellion -- which is not punishable under German law.

The court argued that the closest legal equivalent, high treason, did not apply because Puigdemont's actions were not accompanied by violence.

Following the federal prosecutors' formal application for Puigdemont's extradition, the court will now have to examine whether to approve his return to Spain.

Even if judges again reject the rebellion charge, Puigdemont could still be sent home to be tried for the embezzlement of public funds, a lesser charge related to the cost of staging the Catalan referendum.

With his legal woes preventing him from being re-appointed president of Catalonia, Puigdemont last month anointed a handpicked successor, helping the region to come closer to ending the crisis.

On Tuesday, Catalonia's separatist president named an administration without detained or exiled former ministers, paving the way for Madrid to end its direct rule over the northeastern region.
Federal prosecutors in Germany apply in a Schleswig-Holstein court for the extradition of Carles Puigdemont to Spain, arguing that the treason charges are valid according to German law, because, according to the prosecutors, "the violence in Catalonia on election day can be attributed to the wanted individual".