The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Spain drops bid to extradite former Catalan minister
Court: Arrest warrant withdrawn ahead of hearing
Spain’s withdrawal of an international arrest warrant for a former Catalan politician fighting extradition from the UK has been described by her legal team as a “tremendous victory”.
Professor Clara Ponsati, a St Andrews University academic, was arrested in March after handing herself in to police in Scotland.
It came after she was made the subject of a European Arrest Warrant, with the authorities in Madrid seeking her on charges of violent rebellion and misappropriation of public funds over her role in Catalonia’s independence referendum in 2017.
A full extradition hearing lasting four weeks was set to begin in Edinburgh at the end of this month.
But yesterday a Spanish Supreme Court judge dropped the extradition request for the 61-year-old, an ex-Catalan education minister.
He also rescinded warrants for five other politicians for their roles in promoting Catalonia’s independence, including former regional president Carles Puigdemont.
Prof Ponsati’s solicitor Aamer Anwar said: “From the very beginning Clara Ponsati utterly refuted the charges she faced and Spain was accused of abusing the European Arrest Warrant for politically motivated prosecutions.
“So today’s withdrawal of all the European Arrest Warrants by the Spanish Supreme Court is a tremendous victory for the Catalan politicians and people.”
Mr Anwar stated that they are still awaiting official confirmation and cautioned that national warrants remain in place, meaning Prof Ponsati still faces arrest in Spain.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted it was “very good news” that extradition proceedings had apparently been dropped against the academic.