The extradition case against Catalan scholar and independent activist Clara Ponsatí was rejected by a Scottish court after she moved to Belgium.
A sheriff in Edinburgh blocked the Spanish government’s extradition request for Ponsatí. Elected as a member of the European Parliament in January 2020, After agreeing that the court no longer has any jurisdiction over her case.
The court ruled on Thursday morning after Poonsatti’s legal team had a dispute with John Scott QC, a lawyer for the Scottish Chief Attorney, who accused her of disrespecting the court after failing to attend the hearing.
Scott, on behalf of the Spanish government, on behalf of the head of the Scottish prosecution service, Lord Advocate, told the court that Ponsati had violated her commitment to the court’s hearing. She did not tell the court that she had moved permanently to Belgium and resigned from her position at the University of St Andrews.
“The royal family now has no choice but to dismiss her from the current proceedings,” Scott told Sheriff Nigel Ross QC. “These violations have prevented the Scottish courts from hearing the merits of this case, which is very disappointing.”
Poonsatti’s lawyer refuted his allegations. They insisted that she had told the court that she had moved to Belgium, but had no obligation to tell the court that she was no longer working in St Andrews.
Her lawyer said that the court and the royal family had agreed to return her passport, and the chief defense lawyer had long admitted that she was not at risk of escape. Inspector Ross accepted this and dismissed the case.
Madrid accuses Ponsati of helping to rise to power Catalonia’s illegal and unconstitutional referendum Fall into violence in 2017. She became a celebrity among Scottish nationalists, many of whom supported the Catalans.
As the Minister of Education of the Catalan Regional Government, Ponceatti was charged by the Spanish courts along with the Spanish courts at the time. President of Catalonia Karls Puigmont, And other senior figures in the broader independence movement, incited rebellion and incited illegal referendums.
Puigdemont and others fled Spain, leading the Spanish courts to issue European arrest warrants for him, Ponsatí and their colleagues. Nine independent Catalan leaders were later sentenced to a total of 100 years in prison by the Madrid court.
In January 2020, Puigmont and his colleague Tony Coming won a seat in the European Parliament together with Ponzatti. They now live in Belgium.
Since then, the current socialist government of Madrid has sought reconciliation with the Catalan leaders. In June of this year, nine people sentenced to prison were pardoned. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for a new “era of dialogue and understanding.”
In July of this year, the Luxembourg court ruled that European arrest warrants for Ponsatí, Puigdemont and Comin should not be enforced to allow them to move freely as members of the European Parliament, pending a full hearing on whether they enjoy parliamentary immunity.
Ponsatí’s lawyer Aamer Anwar stated that the Spanish government has not yet waived the arrest warrant, but accepted that it should not be executed until the European Court of Justice has ruled on their immunity.
After Thursday’s hearing, Anwar said: “For Clara, the European arrest warrant has always been an example of Spain’s judicially motivated retaliation. She insisted that after nine Catalan politicians were imprisoned for 100 years After being pardoned, they cannot guarantee the right to a fair trial.”
Last year, Poonsatti became the focus of criticism in Spain after he tweeted clearly demeaning the residents of Madrid who died of the new crown pneumonia at the beginning of the pandemic.She was also Jewish leader asks for an apology After comparing the response of the 2017 Catalan referendum to Spain’s mass deportation of Jews in 1492.
