A new European arrest warrant has been issued for St Andrews University professor Clara Ponsatí.
Ponsatí is facing charges of sedition over her role in Catonia's independence referendum and will report to St Leonards police station in Edinburgh on Thursday morning before appearing in court.
Ponsati has been working at the University of St Andrews since 2016 and denies any wrongdoing. She will resist extradition.
A previous warrant was withdrawn last summer but the academic again faces being sent to Spain to stand trial following guilty verdicts against pro-independence politicians and activists.
Ahead of the warrant going live, Scottish lawyer Aamer Anwar, who represents Ponsati said: “We very much intend to put on trial the Spanish justice system as well as certain politicians who have as acted as executioners with their public statements against the prisoners.
READ MORE: Letters: Yes supporters must reflect on the situation facing Catalonia
“The difference however on this occasion is that Clara is no longer charged with the crime of rebellion, but of sedition and the mismanagement of public funds ... Clara views these charges as ‘political persecution’ and submits that her human rights and justice cannot be guaranteed in the Spanish courts.”
He said Ponsati believed her extradition would be “unjust and oppressive” and they intended to use the “show trials” of Catalan leaders to show that Spanish courts cannot guarantee “independence, human rights or justice”.
“Clara remains defiant, resolute and is determined to fight back and wants to thank the many thousands of ordinary people especially in Scotland and Catalonia who have shown her such love and support over the last 16 months,” he said. “Since last year when the warrant was withdrawn, we had predicted that the Spanish would reissue a warrant following the sentencing of the Catalan political prisoners. Over the course of the last several months many have watched with deep concerns the ‘trial’ of the political prisoners, whilst we have prepared for this moment.”
He said sedition was not an offence in Scotland, and said: “It is our attention to raise before our courts that the Spanish authorities in their eagerness to revenge themselves against the Catalan government are abusing the process of the European Arrest Warrant.”
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer tweeted that the charges against Clara Ponsati should be ‘dismissed immediately’.
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