Robert Firth
CATALAN separatist leader Clara Ponsati has dismissed sedition charges against her as ‘politically motivated’ and said she will fight extradition to Spain.
The 62-year-old ex-Catalan government minister is currently holed up in Scotland, where she fled following her involvement in organising the illegal 2016 referendum vote in Catalonia.
Spain’s government has filed an arrest warrant for her with UK police. British officers were involved in a diplomatic pickle with Spanish officials last week after they called the arrest warrant ‘disproportionate.’
Following her release on bail by an Edinburgh court, the University of St Andrews professor said she faced a ‘show trial’ if the UK sends her to trial in Spain.
Her lawyer Aamer Anwar said the European arrest warrant against her was ‘full of contradictions and mistakes’ and provided no evidence of the alleged crime, which Ponsati denies.
He said: “We are instructed by Clara to robustly defend her from what she describes as ‘judicially motivated revenge’. Clara wishes to put on notice all those Spanish politicians who have abused the rule of law that they will also be exposed to scrutiny in her defence.”
He added: “Clara trusts that her fate now lies in the hands of the Scottish justice system which she believes to be impartial, robust and independent.”
In October the Spanish supreme court jailed nine Catalan seperatist leaders for more than 100 years for their involvement in organising the 2016 referendum.
The jail sentences sparked violent protests in Barcelona.
Ponsati’s case will receive a full hearing early next year.
