Puigdemont fled to Belgium again
After years in exile, the fugitive separatist leader Puigdemont appears in Spain and delivers a brief speech. He then disappears again. According to a party colleague, he has returned abroad. A friend of Puigdemont's also speaks out.
The Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who is wanted on an arrest warrant, has already left for Belgium again after his surprise visit to Barcelona on Thursday, according to the general secretary of his party, Junts. His plan is to continue working from Waterloo, said general secretary Jordi Turull on the Catalan radio station RAC1. Puigdemont had been in Barcelona since Tuesday evening.
The Catalan police will hold a press conference to comment on the failed arrest of Puigdemont. Earlier, Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, had emphasized that his client is again outside Spain. Puigdemont had lived mainly in Belgium since his flight abroad on October 30, 2017, following the failed secession of Catalonia from Spain. He had also stayed briefly in southern France recently.
While the Spanish police continued to search for Puigdemont, the Catalan singer-songwriter and head of the separatist civil movement ANC, Lluís Llach, wrote on the platform X that Puigdemont had asked him to say that he is "healthy, safe, and above all, free." Boye had commented rather casually the previous evening on the excitement. He described his client's return to Barcelona after almost seven years in exile, his brief fiery speech to thousands of supporters, and his subsequent disappearance under the eyes of the press and police as a normal workday.
"He has done his political work and gone home after work, like everyone else," he told journalists. In any case, Puigdemont "will never surrender." Although there is now an amnesty for separatists, there is still an arrest warrant against Puigdemont, whom investigating judge Pablo Llarena accuses of personally enriching himself in 2017. This offense is not covered by the amnesty. Llarena is now demanding an explanation from the police and the government in Barcelona on how Puigdemont managed to escape.
The Commission has expressed its disappointment over the continued absence of Puigdemont from Spain, despite his brief appearance. After being questioned about Puigdemont's whereabouts, the Spanish authorities confirmed that he is indeed outside the country once again.
