Madrid, 23 September 2021 – The former president of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont has been arrested by the police in Sardinia. Puigdemont went to Italy to participate in a event in Alghero. The former Catalan leader was arrested in application of the warrant issued by Pablo Llarena, judge of the Spanish Supreme Court. The Italian authorities have already notified the arrest to the Madrid judiciary. The confirmation also comes from local sources, after the Spanish media first gave the news.
Puigdemont had gone to Alghero, a Catalan-speaking city, for a conference where he was the guest of honor and was blocked in the airport police station of the Sardinian city after being arrested by the border police. The Puigdemont office confirmed the arrest with a statement and explained that the former Catalan president will be made available tomorrow to the Sassari Court of Appeal, which has the competence to decide whether to release him or proceed with his extradition. in Spain. On July 30, the European Union court confirmed the waiver of parliamentary immunity for Puigdemont, who is wanted for sedition by the Spanish authorities regarding the attempted secession of Catalonia in 2017.
Puigdemont had moved on with the calling of the referendum, announced in June 2017, despite the Spanish Constitutional Court having suspended the law that provided it. The consultation of 1 October 2017 ended with beyond 90% of the votes in favor of independence, albeit with a turnout of less than 43%. The Catalan Parliament declared independence on October 27, 2017. The Spanish government reacted by dissolving the Chamber of the Generalitat, calling new elections and commissioning the region. On 30 October 2017, the Spanish Attorney General, Jose Manuel Maza, opened an investigation for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement against Puigdemont and other members of his government. The accusation of embezzlement refers, specifically, to the illegal use of public funds of which the three exponents of the independence party Junts Per Catalunya are allegedly guilty with the organization of the referendum. Soon after the charges were published, Puigdemont and five of his ministers, including Comin and Ponsati, fled to Marseille, from where they flew to Belgium to avoid arrest.
On November 3, the Spanish justice issued a European arrest warrant against the wanted independence politicians, who surrendered to the Belgian police and were then released with the order not to leave the country. On December 5, 2017, the European arrest warrant was then withdrawn from Madrid, in a tactical move due to the fear that the Belgian judiciary would limit the charges or stand out for not being homogeneous with those provided for by Spanish law. The following year the judge of the Supreme Court Pablo Llarena would in fact reactivate the arrest warrant. The parliamentary immunity that Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsatì had gained with the election to the European Parliament on May 26, 2019, was revoked on March 10 by the plenary of the European Parliament. On 2 June the vice president of the EU Court then temporarily suspended the waiver of parliamentary immunity by Puigdemont, Comin and Ponsati. The same EU Court, last July 31, finally rejected the request for a further suspension of the revocation, paving the way once and for all for the extradition of the three separatists.
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