Spanish court drops extradition request for Catalan leader

Spain’s Supreme Court has dropped the extradition request for former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. He is currently in Germany and was wanted under the charge of misuse of public funds. The rejection comes a week after a German court ruled that Puigdemont could be extradited under the charge, after using the money to organize Catalonia’s banned independence referendum in 2017. However, it rejected the request of the more serious charge of rebellion and sedition - which carries a jail term of up to 30 years – sought by Madrid. The Spanish court also withdrew existing European Arrest Warrants (EAW) issued for other on-the-run Catalan politicians linked to the illegal poll.