Catalonia's Puigdemont to be brought before judge in Germany

BERLIN – Catalonia's former president, Carles Puigdemont, is to be brought before a court in Germany to determine whether he stays in custody pending further decisions on extradition proceedings.

Prosecutors in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein wouldn't say where Monday's closed-doors hearing would take place. German news agency dpa said Puigdemont was taken to a prison in the town of Neumuenster Sunday, hours after his arrest on a European warrant as he entered Germany from Denmark.

Spain was plunged into its worst political crisis in four decades when Puigdemont's government flouted a court ban and held an ad-hoc referendum on independence for the northeastern region in October.

The Catalan parliament's subsequent declaration of independence received no international recognition and provoked a takeover of the regional government by Spanish authorities.