The ousted leader of Catalonia on Tuesday said he accepted the upcoming regional elections imposed by the Spanish government and asked that the results be respected.
In a press conference in Brussels, Carles Puigdemont warned that there was a serious lack of democracy in Spain today as the judiciary was politicised and lacked impartiality and referred to himself as the legitimate President of Catalonia, Efe news reported.
"We are taking the elections as a democratic challenge," Puigdemont said. "Democratic challenges don't scare us," he added, asking the Spanish state to respect the majority pro-independence vote that he said would prevail on December 21, the date chosen by the central government for the ballot in Catalonia.
On Tuesday, Spain's Constitutional Court, the top rung of the judiciary, suspended Puigdemont's unilateral declaration of independence after Catalonia's Parliament gave it a go-ahead late last week in a vote.
Also, the Spanish police raided the central headquarters of the Catalan regional security force to seize communication records of the October 1 disputed independence referendum.
The searches coincided with ongoing investigations into allegations that the regional police force Mossos d'Esquadra demonstrated passivity when ordered to collaborate with semi-militarized Civil Guard and the Spanish National Police to block the voting process in the illegal ballot.
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Puigdemont on three separate occasions dismissed speculation that he was in Belgium to apply for political asylum, insisting he was only there because it was the heart of the European Union.
The ousted regional president said he and five members of his government had travelled to Belgium because they had become aware of "verified information that indicated the Spanish government was proposing a highly aggressive and unprecedented offensive against the people of Catalonia and the officials who remained faithful to the legitimate government".
He said that under the circumstances, he and his government colleagues had chosen the best course of action which was to give priority to what he described as "prudence, security and moderation".
Spain's state prosecutor had on Monday filed a lawsuit at the National Court against Puigdemont, his cabinet and the regional Parliament's speaker which included charges of rebellion and sedition.
Puigdemont said that he would be prepared to return to Spain if he were to be offered a fair trial.
"Should that be the case, we would return rapidly," he told a room packed with journalists at Brussel's Press Club.
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