FORMER Catalan minister Clara Ponsati has said she has no intention of appearing before a “fanatic” judge "at his convenience" after a new national arrest warrant was issued against her in Spain.
The MEP and former University of St Andrews scholar, who previously fought extradition from Scotland to face charges over the unsanctioned Catalonia independence referendum, was arrested in March after returning to Spain for the first time after five years in exile.
She was later released and an arrest warrant withdrawn, but Judge Pablo Llarena then called on her to testify in-front of the Supreme Court in April for the alleged crime of disobedience, which carries the penalty of disqualification from political office.
After she did not appear for that hearing, a new national arrest warrant was issued against her in Spain last week.
Ponsati told The National it was in “clear contravention” of her parliamentary immunity as an MEP and the order was made despite an ongoing procedure for the defence of her immunity initiated by the European Parliament.
She said: “I did not appear before the judge on that day [in April] because the summons are also an infringement of my immunity and because, as the judge was duly informed, the European Parliament had initiated a procedure for the defence of my immunity, which in accordance to the European Court of Justice's case law, would mean a stay in the proceedings.
“Despite this case law, the judge has refused to stay the proceedings and has issued a new national arrest warrant against me.”
Ponsati said she was planning to appeal against the new arrest warrant in the Spanish courts.
She added: “I have little faith in them, but it is important to appeal against all their unjust decisions, so that they can be challenged in European courts down the line.
“I have also informed the presidency of the European Parliament of this new breach of my parliamentary immunity.
“This new arrest warrant means that, most probably, I will be arrested next time I set foot in Catalonia, driven to Madrid to appear before the judge and set free pending trial for a crime of disobedience.
“As I have no intention of appearing before a fanatic judge at his convenience, I will return to Catalonia when it suits me.”
In 2021, a Scottish court dismissed the European Arrest Warrant for Ponsati issued by Judge Llarena.
Authorities in Madrid issued the order over charges of violent rebellion and misappropriation of public funds over her role in Catalonia's independence referendum in 2017.
