Clara Ponsatí, a Catalan separatist and MEP, was launched after being detained for a number of hours Tuesday in Barcelona, following years of evading an arrest warrant from the Spanish Supreme Court over a failed independence push.
Ponsatí, 66, was the training minister within the Catalan authorities when the area declared independence from Spain following a 2017 referendum for secession, which Spanish judges deemed to be unlawful. She has been residing in exile in Scotland and Belgium ever since, after Spain’s high courtroom issued an arrest warrant accusing her of the crime of disobedience for her position in organizing the referendum.
She was arrested by Catalonia’s autonomous police drive, the Mossos d’Esquadra, whereas sporting her European Parliament badge, after touring to Spain for the primary time since fleeing the nation. The MEP tweeted that she was “illegally” arrested in Barcelona. The supreme courtroom had withdrawn the cost of “sedition” that carried a jail sentence, in line with Spanish press company EFE, nevertheless, she nonetheless stands accused of “disobedience.”
Ponsatí instantly challenged the legality of her arrest. Local media later reported that she was launched, however was told to attend a hearing on April 24.
“I’m an MEP and I have immunity in the whole of the European Union, but it’s only in Spain that it’s not recognized,” she stated at a press convention previous to her arrest, EFE reported.
Ponsatí, who labored as a professor of economics and finance on the University of St. Andrews in Scotland after leaving Spain, turned an MEP in 2020 and doesn’t belong to a political group within the European Parliament. She is a part of the Together for Catalonia social gathering, created by fellow MEP-in-exile Carles Puigdemont, who led the Catalan regional authorities on the time of the referendum.
A spokesperson for EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola stated she had obtained a request for protection of immunity from Ponsati. “We are examining all the legal issues surrounding this case. Any possible course of action will only be guided by that consideration and nothing else,” the spokesperson stated.
