Catalan separatist flees ‘political persecution’ in Spain and seeks exile in Switzerland

A LEADING Catalan separatist has fled to Switzerland to avoid a court appearance in Spain, where she stands accused of rebellion over October’s independence push.

Anna Gabriel, of the far-left CUP, was due to be questioned in the Spanish Supreme Court today over the banned Oct 1 referendum and subsequent declaration of independence. But instead, she became the sixth secessionist leader to abandon Spain, saying that she was seeking exile in Geneva to escape “political persecution” at home.

Announcing her decision through the Swiss media yesterday, Ms Gabriel said she would not get a “fair judgment” in Spain, so had sought a country that would “protect her rights”. Ms Gabriel, who could face up to 30 years in prison and who travelled to Switzerland at the weekend, said if Spain tried to extradite her she would request political asylum. Ms Gabriel told Le Temps, the Swiss newspaper, that she was being targeted for her political activity by authorities who “want to silence independence through repression” and had “already been condemned by the government press”. The anti-capitalist CUP, which has pushed hard for unilateral secession, has a small parliamentary presence but its support is crucial to the pro-independence bloc. The move opens up a further international dimension in the Catalan crisis, which independence leaders have been increasingly trying to push on to the world stage amid a political impasse at home.

Some 28 Catalan politicians, officials and activists are under investigation for alleged crimes of sedition and rebellion over the campaign to declare independence from Spain. Ms Gabriel described the crackdown as a “witch hunt”, likening it to Turkey’s post-coup purges – in which tens of thousands have been arrested. Carles Puigdemont, the former president of Catalonia, and four former cabinet members remain in Belgium, where they fled to after Madrid imposed direct rule and dissolved the Catalan government after its declaration of independence.