Carles Puigdemont tells the story of his lightning bolt in Catalonia
Cesar Manso / AFP
Spain: Carles Puigdemont tells the story of his lightning strike in Catalonia (Carles Puigdemont pictured during his lightning visit to Spain on August 8, 2024)
SPAIN – A look back at a lightning foray into Spain. Catalan independence leader Carles Puigdemont, who returned to Catalonia for the first time in seven years during a lightning appearance in Barcelona despite an arrest warrant targeting him, gave more details on Saturday, August 10, about his surprise visit.
“It was never my intention to surrender myself to a judicial authority that is not competent to prosecute us (…) nor to administer justice, but is motivated by political objectives.”He explained this in a video clip published by the social networking site X Carles Puigdemont three days after his arrival in Barcelona.
From his home in Waterloo, near the Belgian capital, where he gave several interviews to the Spanish media, dispelling any doubt about his current whereabouts, he claims he was wanted. “I enter Parliament to attend the session (the inauguration of the President of the Catalan Executive) and I can exercise my right to speak and my right to vote.”.
But the police system was installed. “I was not prevented from entering parliament, but in the garden” He goes on to say that his location not far from there – where he was still able to give a speech on the platform for several minutes – dissuaded him from doing so.
“In this context, trying to reach Parliament meant certain arrest, and I had no possibility of addressing the hall, which was my goal.”He said again.
” Full encirclement »
Carles Puigdemont indicates that he then decided to flee. “In the context of repression with complete encirclement” For the purpose of “Join my Belgian residency here in Waterloo”In an interview with TV3 on Saturday, Carles Puigdemont believes his trip abroad and return journey prove that “To be able to enter and exit the country to challenge an oppressive state.”.
In X, the Junts party leader made it clear that he was well aware of “Risks” and “The high costs of failure”.
“It was necessary to denounce at the international level the Spanish state which does not act democratically when it allows Supreme Court judges to make fun of the laws passed by its parliament.”He comments, referring to the amnesty law negotiated with the Spanish government in exchange for support for the separatists in parliament, which does not currently apply to him.
The law has been widely criticised and is the subject of numerous legal debates, and on July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that it only applies to certain crimes of which the exiled independence leader in Belgium is accused.
Carles Puigdemont, a central figure in Catalonia's independence movement, reappeared on Thursday after seven years on a stage in the heart of Barcelona, before thousands of sympathizers, before secretly disappearing and managing to thwart the police system that was supposed to allow his arrest.
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