Puigdemont makes Catalan case to EU as he fears unfair trial

(Bloomberg) Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said he fled Spain for fear he and his government wouldn't get a fair trial, as he said he wouldn't risk violence to press the case for independence.

Puigdemont said he's not seeking asylum in Brussels, but he won't return to Spain unless he has "guarantees" that he and his colleagues will get a fair trial. Spanish courts are politicised and bent on revenge rather than justice, he told reporters in Brussels. Part of his government will stay in Barcelona, while he presents Catalonia's case to the European Union.

The leader, who was ousted by the Spanish central government on Friday after the Catalan parliament declared a breakaway republic, said he wasn't prepared to accept violence as the price of an independent state. He said another wave of aggression would have followed if they had taken a different approach.

"We have before us a state that only understands the reasoning of force to make us abandon our political project," he said. "The republic cannot be built on violence."

Puigdemont, who had long said he would go to jail for the cause, faces up to 30 years in jail for charges including sedition after Spain's top prosecutor filed a suit on Monday.