The Catalan separatist Clara Ponsati, who was elected to the European Parliament, returned to her home country for the first time five and a half years after fleeing Spain – and was promptly arrested. The 66-year-old was taken into custody by civil servants in Barcelona today, state television broadcaster RTVE and other media reported, citing the authorities.
The Supreme Court had issued an arrest warrant for Ponsati for disobedience in connection with the illegal independence referendum of October 1, 2017. After the referendum and a subsequent decision to secede from Spain, Catalonia was placed under receivership by the then conservative central government.
The regional president at the time, Carles Puigdemont, escaped the reach of the Spanish judiciary by going abroad with Ponsati and other separatist politicians. The comrades-in-arms who did not escape were sentenced to prison terms of up to 13 years, but have since been pardoned.
Ponsati entered the French border by car and initially held a press conference in Barcelona, RTVE reported. She then took to the streets to the cheers of pro-independence supporters, where she was arrested in the evening. Officials ignored their reference to their immunity as MEPs. Puigdemont described the arrest as illegal on Twitter. “But in Spain the rule of law plays a rather minor role,” he wrote.
imprisonment excluded
The charges against Ponsati, who lives in Scotland and Belgium, cannot be punished with imprisonment, but only with a fine and disqualification from public office for a period of six months to two years. However, she was probably taken into custody as a fugitive from justice. Some Spanish media suspect Ponsati returned to Spain because of the May 28 regional and local elections.
