Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan separatist leader, had not set foot on Spanish soil since 2017, when authorities ordered his arrest for organizing the Catalan independence referendum.
Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont has escaped Spanish police and is back in France or Belgium, according to his lawyer.
“He informed me this morning that he was back at work, which means he is either in his office in the south of France or in his office and residence in Brussels, in Waterloo,” Mr Puigdemont’s Belgian lawyer, Simon Bekaert, said on Friday.
Mr Puigdemont, a former president of the Catalan government and a leading figure in the region’s independence movement, appeared in Barcelona on Thursday, where he gave a speech before disappearing.
He returned on the day the Catalan parliament voted for socialist Salvador Illa to become president of the region.
Two officers were arrested Thursday, accused of helping Puigdemont escape.
Puigdemont had not set foot on Spanish soil since 2017, when authorities ordered his arrest for organizing the Catalan independence referendum. That arrest warrant is still active.
He is accused of embezzlement for his role in the attempted separation of Catalonia from the rest of Spain in 2017.
In 2017, he escaped authorities by illegally leaving Spain and found refuge in Waterloo, Belgium.
From there, Puigdemont led the Catalan independence movement onto the international stage, becoming a member of the European Parliament in 2019.
Additional sources • adaptation: Serge Duchêne
