Carles Puigdemont says he has no plans to seek asylum in Belgium.

Carles Puigdemont, the embattled leader of Catalonia’s independence movement, said he would respect the result of regional elections called by the Spanish government, marking a possible turning point in the separatists’ drive for secession. At a press conference Tuesday in Brussels, Mr. Puigdemont said he decided to travel to Belgium to avoid being subjected to an unfair trial back home. Mr. Puigdemont showed up in the city with several ousted ministers from his government, including the former interior minister and health minister, as Spanish prosecutors said they were seeking to charge him and 19 former government and parliament officials with rebellion, sedition and misappropriation of funds. The fate of the Catalonian leader and his region has been in question since its parliament declared independence on Friday and Spain’s central government seized temporary control in response, removing him and about 150 separatist-allied officials, including the regional police chief. Despite his defiant stance in Belgium, Mr. Puigdemont’s agreement that pro-independence parties should participate in regional elections shows that separatists are shifting into campaign mode rather than prioritizing the construction of a republic.

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