The arrest of President Puigdemont reaches the Council of Europe

Italian Democratic Party senators Roberto Rampi and Gianni Marilotti have brought the arrest of exiled Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and called for concrete action.

As explained in a statement, the two elected officials have claimed the need to protect the freedom of expression of citizens and their representatives, and say that “the clear will of the Catalan people to claim their independence can not be treated as a subversive and criminal act”, but there must be a “political weighting” in the European integration framework .

Rampi and Marilotti affirm that the Catalan case must leave the judicial and repressive dimension and must return to a political scope and for that reason they ask that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe takes action after their very clear positioning through the report demanding the release of prisoners, the return of exiles, and the end of repression.