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Catalan separatist wanted by Spain vows to return

Exiled Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont on Saturday vowed to return to Spain to attend a regional presidential debate expected in a few weeks even though he could be arrested.

Published: 27 July 2024 17:49 CEST
Exiled Catalan separatist leader, Spanish member of the European Parliament and founder of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party Carles Puigdemont delivers a speech at Amelie-les-Bains, south-western France
Exiled Catalan separatist leader, Spanish member of the European Parliament and founder of the Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party Carles Puigdemont delivers a speech at Amelie-les-Bains, south-western France on July 27, 2024. (Photo by IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES / AFP)

The controversial figure fled abroad in 2017 to avoid prosecution over a botched independence bid that year, and has since been wanted by the Spanish justice system.

Puigdemont risks being arrested if he returns to Spain, where he has been charged with terrorism, embezzlement and high treason.

Puigdemont said Saturday that returning to Spain “is what I committed to do and it is what we’re going to do”.

This was his first public address since the Spanish Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that an amnesty law for Catalan separatists would not apply to him.

READ ALSO: Several Catalan separatists return to Spain after amnesty

“My obligation is to go to the (Catalan) Parliament if there is a nomination debate. I will be there,” he told a rally of his Together for Catalonia party in southwestern France near the border with Spain.

Puigdemont said he hoped that if he returned, “the authorities would avoid what would be an illegal detention, an arbitrary detention”.

The politician, who was Catalonia’s regional president at the time of the failed secession, would have been the best-known beneficiary of the new law. Legal action against several other separatists has already been dropped.

He is also being investigated for “terrorism offences” for mass street protests in 2019, a charge that is not covered by the amnesty.

The independence figurehead had hoped to be elected president of Catalonia when his party came in second in elections in May, but lacked sufficient votes in parliament.

READ ALSO: Catalan independence for beginners: Five key points

Puigdemont’s separatists lost to a member of Spain’s ruling socialist party, Salvador Illa, who has been negotiating with the other major independence formation for the presidency.

Fresh elections will be called in October if parties do not name a president by August 26.

“There will be no more electoral campaigns in exile,” said Puigdemont, who campaigned for the Catalan elections from neighbouring France.

“No, the next election campaigns will be there (in Catalonia), and I will be there,” he said.

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POLITICS

Judge insists Spain’s PM testify in person in wife’s corruption probe

A Spanish judge on Friday rejected Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's request to testify in writing in a preliminary corruption probe into his wife's business ties.

Published: 26 July 2024 18:11 CEST
Judge insists Spain's PM testify in person in wife's corruption probe

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is leading the inquiry, maintained Sánchez’s hearing for next Tuesday at 11:00 am (0900 GMT), according to a court filing seen by AFP.

He said he had summoned Sánchez as the spouse of Begoña Gómez, not as prime minister — which would have allowed the Socialist premier to testify in writing as he had requested.

The judge is scheduled to question Sánchez at the premier’s official residence.

But Sánchez can testify at a later date in writing about “relevant facts of which he has had knowledge by reason of his position”, the judge added.

The only other time a sitting Spanish prime minister had to testify in a judicial case was in 2017 when Mariano Rajoy was summoned in a graft case that led to the conviction of several members of his conservative Popular Party (PP).

Gomez is being investigated for alleged influence peddling and corruption following a complaint filed by an anti-graft NGO with links to the far-right called “Manos Limpias” – Spanish for “Clean Hands”.

Sánchez claims harassment

Sánchez has denied any wrongdoing by his wife, repeatedly dismissing the allegations as part of a smear campaign against his government.

Sánchez can appeal the judge’s ruling that he must testify in person, or he can choose not to testify.

His wife invoked her right to remain silent under questioning by a judge earlier this month.

Gómez, has worked in fundraising for years, notably for foundations and NGOs. She is alleged to have used her husband’s position as leverage within her professional circles, notably with businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés who was seeking public funding.

In his testimony, Barrabés – who teaches part of a master’s course at Madrid’s Complutense University that is run by Gómez – acknowledged meeting her five or six times at Moncloa, the premier’s official residence.

Sánchez, in power since 2018, was also present at two of those meetings, he said.

Barrabés — who got two letters of recommendation from Gómez before pitching for a public tender worth several million euros – said they only talked about matters of innovation, judicial sources said.

When the probe was opened in April, Sánchez shocked Spain by saying he was considering resigning over what he denounced as a campaign of political harassment by the right.

He took five days to reflect but ultimately decided to stay on.

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