Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is detained in Germany by police acting on an EU arrest warrant issued by Spain, his lawyer said.

Mr.Puigdemont lawyer, Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, said that highway police had stopped Puigdemont on Sunday (25.03.2018) after he crossed the border from Denmark to Germany, DW reports. THe lawyer also confirmed that Puigdemont had been on his way back to Belgium where he lives in exile since fleeing Spain. A spokesperson for Puigdemont made the following statement:

“1. President Carles Puigdemont was retained in Germany when he was crossing the border from Denmark, on his way to Belgium from Finland. 2. The treatment has been correct in every moment. At the moment he is in a police station and his legal defense is already activated. 3. The president was going to Belgium to put himself, as always, at the disposal of the Belgian justice.”

Former President of self-proclaimed Catalan Republic was stopped by German police on the way back from his trip to Finnish parliament, where he had meetings with MPs.

The extradition process will be led by prosecutors at the Higher Regional Court in Schleswig.