Catalan ex-governor remains in German police custody due to "flight risk"

BERLIN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The Catalan ex-governor, Carles Puigdemont, will remain in police custody until a decision is reached by the German judicial authorities over his extradition to Spain, an administrative court in Northern Germany ruled on Monday night.

The administrative court in Neumuenster, an urban municipality in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, justified the detention of the separatist leader by arguing that he posed a "flight risk."

The 55-year-old Puigdemont who is being held at the prison in Neumuenster, lived in exile in Brussels after fleeing Spain five months ago and thus had a "significant incentive" to return to Belgium, a court statement read.

According to the chief public prosecution office of Schleswig-Holstein, a German state where Puigdemont was arrested when crossing the German-Danish border on Sunday, it was unlikely that a decision on his extradition could be reached before Easter.

Spain has recently issued a raft of European arrest warrants against individuals who are accused of illegally declaring Catalonian independence in the culmination of a still ongoing constitutional crisis over the status of the autonomous province.

More than 50,000 demonstrators subsequently clashed with Spanish police in Barcelona, demanding that Berlin release Puigdemont and refuse to extradite him.

At least 90 individuals have been injured, including 20 security officers who fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse the angry protesting crowds.

German media initially reported that Puigdemont was considering applying for political asylum in Germany, a claim denied by his attorney on Monday.

The German Interior Ministry has told the press that it was informed by Spanish police authorities of the Catalan ex-governor's plans to travel through Germany and had no choice other than arrest Puigdemont due to the European arrest warrant.

The Higher Regional Court of Schleswig Holstein is now tasked with reaching a verdict on whether to comply with the Spanish extradition request. Katarina Barley, the newly-installed justice minister, has refused to provide any political comment and instead merely referred to the adherence of legal protocol.

"The first steps are purely judicial ones and we will have to wait until they are completed," Barley told German public broadcaster ARD.

Steffen Seibert, the official spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it was the federal government's view that the conflict between Madrid and Barcelona has to be solved "within the framework of the Spanish legal and constitutional order" and that Berlin had already assisted the Spanish government towards this end during the past months.

Puigdemont was arrested upon entry into Germany from Denmark on Sunday, and he was on his way to Brussels.

He has been a fugitive since Catalonia's failed bid to become independent from Spain last October. The Spanish Supreme Court on Friday issued fresh arrest warrants against Puigdemont and some other individuals behind the independence bid. Enditem