EU parliament lifts ex-Catalan leader's immunity
The decision could help Spain's bid to extradite the separatists, who have been charged with sedition
The European Parliament has voted to waive the immunity of former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and two other Catalan separatist MEPs.
The politicians left Spain in 2017 following a failed independence referendum, which Madrid said was illegal, reports the BBC.
The vote left the country facing its deepest political crisis in decades.
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The decision could help Spain's bid to extradite the separatists, who have been charged with sedition.
All three reject the charges against them.
In 2019, Spain sentenced nine other Catalan leaders to between nine and 13 years in prison over their role in the independence vote.
On Monday, European lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed to strip immunity from Mr Puigdemont, with 400 votes to 248, with similar numbers backing the decision against Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí.
The results were made public on Tuesday morning.
Spain's Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said the decision showed that "Catalonia's problems are to be resolved in Spain and not in Europe"
