The Wikileaks founder has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than five years after successfully claiming diplomatic asylum once inside.
Puigdemont, currently staying at a £61-a-night hotel in the Belgium capital, is facing the threat of arrest and extradition if as expected he snubs a court summons in Madrid tomorrow to answer accusations of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement.
His Belgian lawyer Paul Bekeart has claimed he will not return to Spain, claiming he “prefers to observe and wait” after Puigdemont’s insistence he was unlikely to get a fair trial if he heads back to Barcelona without “guarantees.”
Last night a Spanish newspaper claimed the 54-year-old dad-of-two could seek safe haven in a sympathetic embassy in Belgium or elsewhere to avoid immediate incarceration if he is forced back to Madrid, financial ruin and a possible 30 year jail sentence if convicted of rebellion.
Respected online news website OKDiario.com said: “According to sources sounded out by this paper, Puigdemont has begun to consider the possibility of imitating the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and looking for save haven in a foreign embassy.”
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The website highlighted the fact Catalan pro-independence supporters enjoyed the support of some politicians belonging to minority parties in Finland, Lithuania and Estonia, although it was quick to point out their respective governments had ruled out the possibility of becoming early allies of an independent Catalonia.
Most neutral observers believe Puigdemont would struggle to persuade a Belgian court not to extradite him to another European member state, even though he has hired a specialist human rights lawyer who has helped prevent alleged ETA terrorists being forced back to Spain after seeking safe haven in Belgium.
The country’s PM Charles Michel has hinted the former Catalan leader does not have his support, insisting he should be “close to his people” after declaring independence.
Spanish Justice Minister Rafael Catala said he was confident any attempt by Puigdemont to seek political asylum in Belgium, which the former Catalan leader ruled out in a press conference yesterday, would be over in “half an hour.”
PSOE veteran Alfonso Guerra, ex-vice president of the Spanish government, accused the ousted Catalan president of having a “Dalai Lama” complex and added: “I don’t think he’ll ask for political asylum. He’s in Europe.
“He’s ignorant. He’s probably just having a few drinks in a bar in Brussels.”
Several members of Puigdemont’s deposed government travelled with him to Brussels on Sunday – but most have since returned, being met with insults and the sight of protestors waving Spanish flags when they landed at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport late last night/on Tuesday night.
They have also been ordered to attend the Audiencia Nacional, Spain’s Central Criminal Court, for questioning tomorrow at 9am along with Puigdemont.
Albert Rivera, the leader of pro-union party Ciudadanos, branded Puigdemont and his allies as hypocrites when it first emerged they had travelled to Brussels by tweeting: “They ask citizens and civil servants to break the law, but they vote in secret, change the name of their assets or flee to another country.”
Reports earlier this week had claimed Puigdemont could also end up moving on a third country to frustrate attempts to force him back to Spain if any hopes he harbours of staying in Belgium were blocked.
The ousted Catalan leader was due to address the press again at midday today/yesterday (WED) in Tielt near Ghent where his Belgian lawyer Paul Bekaert has his office.