Interior leaves the decision to give Puigdemont an escort in the hands of the Generalitat and only excludes him outside of Spain

MADRID, 14 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Ministry of the Interior has left in the hands of the Generalitat of Catalonia the decision to provide a Mossos d'Esquadra escort to the former Catalan president and leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, a police protection that only excludes in the event that he requires service abroad. from Spain and Belgium, a country to which he fled in 2017 to avoid justice.

As sources from the Ministry of the Interior have told Europa Press, it is the Generalitat chaired by Pere Aragonès (ERC) that has to respond to Puigdemont's request for an escort "immediately." The request was formulated in parallel with the PSOE registering yesterday the amnesty law that, if approved, will forgive the crimes committed by it and the rest of the politicians and prosecuted by the 'procés'.

The acting Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Cortes and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, assured this Tuesday that the Ministry of the Interior "will process and will surely resolve what is appropriate" regarding the escort request that Puigdemont made this Monday, two days before the beginning of the Plenary Session of Pedro Sánchez's investiture as President of the Government.

According to sources from the Ministry headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, it is the Generalitat, through its Department of the Interior and the Mossos d'Esquadra, who has to decide whether Puigdemont meets the "technical-police criteria" to have the protection service. police.

On the other hand, if the request for an escort affects another country, such as Belgium, where Puigdemont has resided since he fled Spain to avoid the action of Spanish justice, it would be this country that would have to authorize whether or not he allows entry into its territory to someone to carry out police functions.

The escort service for Puigdemont has generated different controversies since his escape from Spain in 2017. The Barcelona Court sentenced the former Catalan Interior Minister Miquel Buch to four and a half years in prison for appointing the police officer Lluís Escolà as a position of trust to escort the former president.

In April 2018, the Ministry of the Interior did not authorize the sending of a Mossos escort to protect Puigdemont, thus rejecting the request made to the Government by the former head of the Catalan Executive, Quim Torra.

The refusal was communicated following a report from the State Attorney's Office, according to Interior sources. Specifically, it was based on two fundamental points: the loss of status as a public authority and the existence of a judicial process against him and an arrest warrant filed against him in Spanish territory. All this would be suspended with the amnesty law.

Minister Bolaños, who yesterday explained at a press conference the amnesty law that he sees as "fully constitutional", assured this Tuesday in an interview on Rac1 collected by Europa Press that "no one questions the safety of people no matter how many ideological differences there may be." have", assuming that the request will be processed.

This Monday, the head of the office of the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, Josep Lluís Alay, requested by letter to the Minister of the Interior of the Generalitat, Joan Ignasi Elena, the "immediate and urgent assignment" of the bodyguards. of the Mossos d'Esquadra to the former president.

Asked about Puigdemont's possible return to Spain, Bolaños has made it subject to the final approval of the amnesty, which he has indicated is "almost impossible" for it to occur this year. In parallel, the general secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, has also said that the former president will be able to return to Catalonia but when the rule is "in force", denying that they have made a calendar in this regard.