Belgian official: Keep close eye on Spain
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A Belgian government official says that the international community has to keep a close eye on Spain to make sure that ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont gets fair legal treatment in Madrid.
Puigdemont and four close allies turned themselves in to Belgian authorities Sunday and now await whether they will be extradited to fellow European Union nation Spain.
Belgian Vice Premier and Interior Minister Jan Jambon told the VTM network that "I am just questioning how an EU member state can go this far—and I am asking myself where Europe is to have an opinion on this."
The Belgian government has been one of the most critical voices about Spain's treatment of the Catalan crisis and condemned the violence from the central authorities that accompanied the Catalan referendum on Oct 1.
Jambon said that "you have Spanish law but also international law, the European Human Rights Treaty and such things and they come ahead of member state law. So I think the international community must keep a close watch."
