Spanish courts are likely to issue a European arrest warrant for former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont after he failed to appear at a Spanish court hearing, Spain's top judge says.
Puigdemont's lawyer in Belgium, where he has travelled with four members of his sacked cabinet, says the climate in Spain was "not good" and his client wants to take "some distance" but he will co-operate with the courts.
"If they ask, he will co-operate with Spanish and Belgian justice," lawyer Paul Bekaert told Reuters.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Puigdemont and his government on Friday, hours after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence - a vote boycotted by the opposition and declared illegal by Spanish courts.
Puigdemont said on Wednesday he would ignore a court order to return to Spain to answer charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds relating to the region's secessionist push.
He did not turn up at a High Court hearing on Thursday.
"When someone doesn't appear after being cited by a judge to testify, in Spain or any other EU country, normally an arrest warrant is issued," said Supreme Court President Carlos Lesmes who is also the head of the General Council of the Judiciary, Spain's top judicial body.
An arrest warrant would make it virtually impossible for Puigdemont to stand in a snap election in the wealthy region called by the Spanish government for December 21.
The decision will be taken by a High Court judge following the testimony of the remaining nine members of Puigdemont's sacked cabinet, including former vice-president Oriol Junqueras.
Five senior regional MPs and the speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, were also summoned by the Supreme Court, which handles the cases of people who enjoy parliamentary immunity.
The Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to give one more week to Forcadell and the Catalan MPs to prepare their defence and a new hearing will take place on November 9.
By midmorning, five members of the dismissed Catalan cabinet had already testified before the High Court judge who is due to decide at this first hearing whether she starts a comprehensive investigation.
Puigdemont said on Tuesday he would go back to Spain only if given unspecified "guarantees" by the Spanish government.
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