Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium on Friday, having\u00a0appeared at a rally\u00a0in central Barcelona despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Spain, his party\u2019s general secretary said on Friday. <\/p>\n
Jordi Turull told RAC1 radio that he did not know whether Puigdemont had already reached his home in Waterloo, where he has lived for seven years in self-imposed exile since leading a failed bid for Catalonia\u2019s secession in 2017. <\/p>\n
Puigdemont\u2019s brief appearance on Spanish soil and an escape\u00a0worthy of a crime caper film\u00a0angered conservative opponents already upset about Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez\u2019s amnesty for separatists in exchange for support for his minority government. <\/p>\n
To make matters worse for Sanchez, Turull said Junts was reconsidering its support because the Supreme Court had found the amnesty law did not apply to Puigdemont and two others, all charged with embezzlement. <\/p>\n
He said Junts\u2019 backing would have \u201ca very narrow path forward or no path at all\u201d unless Madrid strongly pressed for application of the amnesty law to all. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation has changed a lot because of the context and the parameters that made our deal possible, and we have to see whether it makes sense,\u201d Turull said. <\/p>\n
The charge against Puigdemont is related to a 2017 independence referendum that was ruled illegal by the Spanish courts. Puigdemont says the vote was legitimate, and therefore related charges have no basis. <\/p>\n
Sanchez and his government have remained notably silent, and declined a request to respond to the Junts threat and the opposition criticism. <\/p>\n
Presidency Minister Felix Bolanos told reporters in Paris that the operation had been in the hands of the Catalan police, the Mossos d\u2019Esquadra. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey are the police force responsible for carrying out the orders of the Supreme Court,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Turull, who was pardoned in 2021 after serving three years in prison for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement over the secession bid, said Puigdemont had planned to attend a vote in Catalonia\u2019s parliament to confirm the Socialist Salvador Illa as new leader of the regional government. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not come to be arrested in Spain but to exercise his political rights.\u201d <\/p>\n
But instead of walking from the rally to parliament, Puigdemont got into a car because of security concerns, and then decided at short notice to leave because he believed he would not be allowed in, Turull said. <\/p>\n
He added that Puigdemont had not wanted to provide an opportunity for photographs of him being arrested. <\/p>\n
Puigdemont\u2019s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, confirmed in a RAC1 radio interview that Puigdemont had left Spain and said he would make a public statement \u201cin the coming days\u201d. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, the Mossos d\u2019Esquadra and Sanchez\u2019s administration face questions about their failure to arrest Spain\u2019s most recognisable fugitive when he was in plain sight. <\/p>\n
On Friday, the Supreme Court judge leading the investigation against Puigdemont for his role in the 2017 secession bid called on the Mossos to explain the spectacular failure. <\/p>\n
Judge Pablo Llarena also requested explanations from the national Interior Ministry, including any orders to monitor the borders. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont was on his way back to Belgium on Friday, having\u00a0appeared at a rally\u00a0in central Barcelona despite an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Spain, his party\u2019s general secretary said on Friday. Jordi Turull told RAC1 radio that he did not know whether Puigdemont had already reached his home in Waterloo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investingsstrategist.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}