Robert Firth
BRITISH police have triggered a diplomatic headache with Spain after calling an arrest warrant for a Catalan separatist ‘disproportionate under UK law.’
UK Authorities have put a hold on a Spanish request to extradite Clara Ponsati for her role in organising the illegal 2016 referendum on Catalan independence and demanded more information before proceeding with it.
62-year-old Ponsati, who is currently holed up in Scotland, is facing charges for treason. Other independence leaders were sentenced to 13 years in jail for the same crime in October.
British authorities have since backtracked on the comments, trying to pass them off as a misunderstanding.
A letter from UK officials shared by acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell on social media said: “In our previous message … our reply incorrectly stated that the warrant was disproportionate – it is not disproportionate, it is just currently lacking in essential information.”
The Spanish minister said that British officers had ‘corrected their use of the term “disproportionate.”’
“Their new communication clarifies that it is simply about asking for more information,” Borrell added.
On Tuesday Spain’s Supreme Court renewed a European arrest warrant for Ponsati and two other former Catalan politicians living in self-imposed exile in Belgium.
