German Law Journal (2021), 22, pp. 256–275 doi:10.1017/glj.2021.6 ARTICLE Special Section: Developments in German Criminal Law The Curious Case of Carles Puigdemont—The European Arrest Warrant as an Inadequate Means with Regard to Political Offenses Julia König1,*, Paulina Meichelbeck2,** and Miriam Puchta3,*** 1Graduate Student of Law, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany, 2Chair of Civil Law, Intellectual Property and Technology Law, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany and 3Institute for German, European and Public International Law, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany Corresponding author: Julia König, Email:
[email protected] (Received 28 November 2019; revised 06 August 2020; accepted 17 December 2020) Abstract In contrast to traditional extradition law, the political offense exemption has been abolished within the frame- work of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). Notwithstanding its overall success, the EAW does not constitute an adequate instrument with regard to political offenses. In light of the recent case of the former Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, the abolition has proven to be too hasty and the justificatory force behind the principles of mutual trust and recognition is, with respect hereto, rather limited. The damage caused to these principles by upholding the exemption would be negligible, given the small number of cases— Puigdemont being the first political offender requested under the aegis of the EAW. However, the potential benefits are substantial, given that the exemption provides for a higher level of human rights protection—analo- gous to the values of European Union (EU). Solely relying on the double criminality requirement in order to properly take into account the specificities of the Member States’ legal systems essentially positions the judges at the forefront of where mutual trust and constitutional identity collide.