Prosecutor wants Spain to submit more info on Ponsatí

The Scottish prosecutor’s office will request more precise legal information from the Spanish courts about the charges attributed to former Catalan minister Clara Ponsatí. This was agreed by both parties yesterday during the preliminary hearing that took place in Edinburgh as a result of the European arrest order issued in March that calls for Ponsatí’s extradition to Spain for rebellion and embezzlement of public funds in connection with the October 1 referendum on independence.

“Spain has not specified a single act of violence attributable to Clara Ponsatí and the accusations she faces are a grotesque distortion of the truth,” explained the legal representative of the exiled minister, Aamer Anwar, at the entrance to the court.

The next judicial appointment is to be held on June 12, when there will be another preliminary hearing, followed by yet another on July 5, and it will not be until July 30 that the actual proceedings over Ponsatí’s extradition begin. “We intend to challenge the independence and impartiality of Spanish justice in our courts,” Anwar said. According to a statement read by the lawyer, “throughout Europe, Spain is accused of abusing the arrest warrant as a tool of political repression,” adding that “the courts can never be a solution or an alternative to political negotiation.”