Carles Puigdemont vows to 'never surrender', 'continue fight', says lawyer

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Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is awaiting to hear his fate at a courth in Germany following a European arrest warrant issued by Spain for his role in the declaration of independence.
Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas Sayrol, lawyer for Carles Puigdemont, delivers a press statement. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

NEUMUNSTER, Germany (AFP) - Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, in German custody pending possible extradition to Spain to face "rebellion" charges, vows to "never surrender" in his fight for regional independence, his lawyer said on Tuesday (March 27).

"He has said we will never surrender and that is his message to the Catalan people and also that they have the right to express their willingness for independence and a republic in Catalonia," attorney Gonzalo Boye said after visiting Puigdemont in jail following his arrest on Sunday on a European warrant.

"And he has expressed his full trust in the German legal system," Boye added, pending a German court decision on Spain's bid to have him extradited.

Boye said Puigdemont wanted to "pass the message" to the Catalan people that "he will continue fighting and this is going to be a long fight but it will be a fight that he will" win.

A court in the German town of Neumunster ordered Puigdemont to remain in custody pending possible extradition to Spain.

His arrest came five months after he went on the run as Spanish prosecutors sought to charge him with sedition and rebellion in the wake of Catalonia's failed independence bid in October.

A ruling on extradition based on a European arrest warrant must normally be made within 60 days.

A spokeswoman for the German prosecutor's office told AFP it would "probably not come this week" ahead of the four-day Easter holiday.

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