Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont has fled to France or Belgium after evading Spanish police, his lawyer said.
advertisementCatalan separatist leader Carles Puttidemont has fled to France or Belgium to escape Spanish police, Puttidemont’s lawyer said Friday.
“He told me this morning that he was back at work, which means he went back to his office in the south of France, or he went back to his office and residence in Brussels and Waterloo,” said Simon Bekaert, a Belgian lawyer for Putdemont.
Puigdemont, a former Catalan president and leading figure in the region’s independence movement, appeared in Barcelona on Thursday to deliver a speech before disappearing.
He returned on the day the Catalan parliament voted to elect Socialist Salvador Illa as regional president.
On Thursday, two police officers were arrested on suspicion of helping Puigdemont escape.
Puigdemont has not set foot on Spanish soil since authorities ordered his arrest in 2017 on suspicion of organizing a Catalan independence referendum. The warrant remains in effect.
He is facing embezzlement charges for his alleged involvement in a 2017 attempt to secede Catalonia from the rest of Spain.
He fled Spain in 2017 and sought refuge in Waterloo, Belgium, to avoid surveillance by the authorities.
Since then, Puchidemon has led the Catalan independence movement on the international stage, and in 2019 became a Member of the European Parliament.
