Catalan leader Puigdemont strolls in Sardinia after release – KIRO 7 News Seattle

ALGHERO, Sardinia – (AP) – Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont took a leisurely stroll in Sardinia on Saturday and waved to supporters a day after a judge released him from prison pending a hearing on his extradition to Spain for sedition the Italian island too.

Puigdemont, a member of the European Union Parliament who was previously President of the troubled Spanish region of Catalonia, attended a Catalan cultural festival and had scheduled a meeting with the current President and Deputy of the region later on Saturday.

Puigdemont was arrested by Italian police on Thursday when he arrived in Sardinia, a Mediterranean island that has strong ties to Catalan culture and its own separatist movement. But a Sardinian judge released him a day later and did not impose travel restrictions until the extradition hearing on October 4th, leaving Puigdemont free to attend the festival in Alghero on Saturday.

As he walked through the harbor and into the town hall, Catalan folk singers and dancers cheered him on.

“I’m used to being chased by Spain, but the end is always the same. I am free and I will keep fighting, ”Puigdemont told The Associated Press during his walk.

He said he came to Sardinia “because you know that Alghero is very, very deeply rooted in Catalan culture and the Catalan language. So for me it is a very, very important opportunity to be here for free! “

Puigdemont and a number of his separatist colleagues fled to Belgium in October 2017 on fear of arrest after holding an independence referendum for Catalonia that the Spanish courts and government ruled illegal.

His arrest came at a sensitive time for the Spanish government and the regional leadership of Catalonia, which earlier this month resumed talks to resolve the political crisis that has persisted since Spain cracked down on the separatist movement.

Although Puigdemont has a seat in the European Parliament, this legislature withdrew his parliamentary immunity.

The focus of the immediate legal question is whether the arrest warrant issued by Spain against Puigdemont is valid. Gonzalo Boye, his lawyer, has insisted that the 2019 European arrest warrant, which formed the basis for the arrest of the Italian authorities, be suspended.

Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena on the case sent a letter to the European Union Criminal Cooperation Agency stating that the arrest warrant was “in force and pending the arrest of those charged with the rebellion”.

It’s not the first time Spanish courts have tried to arrest Puigdemont abroad. After a Belgian court rejected him in 2017, he was arrested in Germany the following year, but a court there also refused to extradite him.

Nine Catalan separatists were later sentenced to between nine and 13 years in prison for their roles in the 2017 referendum. They were pardoned in July, but not Puigdemont, who had fled.

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Nicole Winfield contributed from Rome.

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