Spanish judge refuses international arrest warrant for Puigdemont

A Spanish judge has rejected a petition from the country’s prosecutor to ask Danish authorities to arrest ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, AP reported.

Puigdemont arrived Monday in Copenhagen from Brussels to speak at the University of Copenhagen. He was to meet Danish lawmakers on Tuesday.

The trip is Puigdemont’s first outside Belgium since he fled there to avoid a Spanish probe for his role in an illegal— and unsuccessful— secession bid for Catalonia in October.

Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena says in his decision that Puigdemont wants to be arrested overseas so he can blame on Spain his absence from a meeting of the Catalan parliament later this month in which he is the candidate to be sworn in as the region’s president.