German prosecutors ask for Puigdemont's arrest and extradition on rebellion charges

The General Prosecutor's Office of Schleswig-Holstein has requested the extradition of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to Spain to stand trial before the Regional Superior Court for the crimes of rebellion and disturbing the public order.

They took their decision after viewing the videos provided to them by Spanish officials showing the degree of violence used by protesters against Spanish police forces, which led them to judge that "the riots were of such magnitude that the Attorney General assumes" that the ex-president is also extraditable under the charge of rebellion.

On the basis of the new evidence, the General Prosecutor also agreed that given past actions, there is a high "flight risk".

However, judges in Schleswig-Holstein did not agree and denied the general prosecutor's request for Puigdemont to be imprisoned.

Meanwhile, back in Spain, Puigdemont's successor as president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, continued to spar with Madrid with the help of the Basque nationalist party, which was threatening to withdraw its support for the 2018 budget if the government blocked the creation of a new government under Torra.

Over the past week, and in what was seen as another direct challenge to the authority of the government in Madrid, Torra had appointed several prominent Catalan pro-independence leaders who were either in jail or whom had fled Spain to his cabinet, demanding that they be allowed to discharge their new responsibilities.