Catalan leader urges separatists to unite
Deposed Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who faces imminent arrest, called on discordant separatist groups to unite ahead of elections as the independence movement seeks to draw energy from the arrest of its leaders.
“It’s the moment for all democrats to unite. For Catalonia, for the freedom of political prisoners and for the Republic,” Puigdemont said Saturday in a Twitter post that included a link for a united electoral platform.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy invoked constitutional powers last month to reassert his authority over Catalonia and fire Puigdemont and his government. Since then, eight politicians and two activists have been jailed pending trial, and arrest warrants have been issued for five others, including Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium to try to run a government in exile.
Puigdemont and the four former ministers are being sought for five crimes, including rebellion, sedition and embezzlement, for their roles in pushing regional lawmakers to declare independence from Spain.
Activists in Barcelona were left rudderless and divided when Puigdemont bolted after he was removed from power. Rajoy called elections for Dec. 21 to pressure the separatists by forcing them to choose whether to participate. But the spectacle of the jailed leaders has reinvigorated the movement and thrust the constitutional crisis into the international spotlight.
Puigdemont said Saturday that he will cooperate with Belgian authorities on the arrest order. Under European arrest warrant procedures, individuals are detained and brought before judges within 24 hours. A court then has 15 days to decide whether to execute the arrest order, according to the Belgian Justice Ministry. Including time for possible appeals, a decision must be made with three months. If that decision were to go against him, Puigdemont would then have to be surrendered to Spain within 10 days.
“I won’t flee justice; I’m willing to submit to justice, but to real justice,” Puigdemont said in an interview with Belgium’s RTBF television on Friday. He said the Spanish courts “can’t guarantee a fair and independent sentence that will be free of the enormous weight and influence of politics.”
“You mustn’t forget that we’re the legitimate government,” Puigdemont said.
Fueled by questions of cultural identity and economic malaise, secessionist sentiment has soared to reach roughly half of the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia, a prosperous region that is proud of its Catalan language spoken along with Spanish.
The separatist majority of Catalonia’s Parliament voted in favor of a declaration of independence on Oct. 27. The next day, Spain’s central government used extraordinary constitutional powers to fire Catalonia’s government and dissolve its regional parliament.
Charles Penty is a Bloomberg News writer.