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Spain Resumes Attempts to Extradite 3 Former Catalan Cabinet Members

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Spain's chief prosecutor asked the top judge on Thursday to reinstate European arrest warrants for three former Catalan cabinet ministers living in exile.
Sputnik

The trio is reported to be former Minister of Health Toni Comin and ex-Minister of Culture Lluis Puig residing in Belgium, and former Minister of Education Clara Ponsati who fled to Scotland.

European warrants against the Catalan regional councillors were issued and then dropped following the EU countries' refusal to hand them over after the three took part in a failed independence referendum.

Spain Resumes Attempts to Extradite 3 Former Catalan Cabinet Members

However, the Spanish prosecutor's office has again asked Supreme Court Justice Pablo Llarena to issue European warrants for their arrest, according to the ABC newspaper.

Madrid has been pursuing the organisers of the 2017 attempt by the Catalan government to declare independence after a vote showed that a vast majority of Catalans favoured the split from Spain.

The Supreme Court sentenced 12 politicians, who are ex-Catalan leaders, to fines and long jail terms on sedition charges. A separate European arrest warrant is in force for Catalonia's former leader, Carles Puigdemont. 

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