Hundreds turn out to support ex-catalan leader over Spanish extradition attempt
A Scots-based leader of the Catalan independence movement has said charges brought against her by the Spanish government are “politically motivated” as she launched a legal battle against extradition.
Professor Clara Ponsati, an academic at St Andrews University, emerged to cheers from hundreds of Scots and Catalan nationalists outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday. Supporters raised almost £200,000 inside a day for her legal defence.
She was an education minister in the Catalan government whose leaders have been forced into exile following the controversial independence referendum in the region last year.
Her lawyer, Aamer Anwar, flanked by Prof Ponsati after her release yesterday, warned that the academic faced up to 25 years in jail if she is found guilty of the charges brought by the Spanish government, which include rebellion. She is also charged with misappropriation of public funds, punishable by up to eight years in prison.
Reading a statement outside court, Mr Anwar said: “Clara wishes me to state that these charges are politically motivated and a grotesque distortion of the truth.”
“She cannot believe that she is being held responsible for the violence that took place on the day on the referendum.”
Mr Anwar said this was down to the Spanish police and state security forces who “attacked the Catalan people on behalf of the Spanish government.”
The independence campaigns in Scotland and Catalonia have developed close links in recent years. Nicola Sturgeon has hit out at the approach of the Spanish
0 Catalan politician Clara Ponsati walks from Edinburgh Sheriff Court with lawyer Aamer Anwar yesterday to cheers from Scots and Catalan nationalists
Mr Anwar added: “Clara is truly humbled by the hundreds of thousands who have supported her, contributed to the legal fund and also wishes to thank the Scottish Government.
“Scotland you have been true friends to the people of Catalonia in their darkest hours. “
The academic will face another hearing in her case on 12 April.
The Catalan referendum was opposed by Spanish authorities who disputed its legality and disbanded the Catalan government, imposing direct rule from Madrid.
Prof Ponsati had resumed working at the University of St Andrews in Fife. But a Spanish judge issued arrest warrants on Friday for Prof Ponsati and the other fugitive politicians, including former President Carles Puigdemont, who was detained by police in Germany. A crowdfunding drive to raise money for Prof Ponsati’s extradition defence topped £175,000 last night after being launched earlier in the day.
She had handed herself into St Leonard’s Police station in Edinburgh yesterday morning where software engineer Xavier Oliver was among a group of supporters who turned out.
He said: “The Spanish government is using this excuse to put people in jail and let them rot.
“They should tackle the problem politically. In their minds putting people in jail on ridiculous charges is enough to change the minds of two million people.”