SUPPORTERS of former Catalan education minister Professor Clara Ponsati will gather outside a Scottish court later when she makes another appearance to answer a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Spain.
The University of St Andrews academic is wanted in Spain in connection with the October 2017 independence referendum in Catalonia, as are former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and ex-ministers Toni Comin and Lluis Puig, who are all exiled in Belgium.
Ponsati will appear again on Thursday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court with her lawyer Aamer Anwar.
He told The National: “This is a procedural hearing but it’s an important one because we’ll be setting out the details of Clara’s case.
“We will outline the arguments and the witnesses we will call.”
READ MORE: Jailed Catalan leaders key to coalition of Socialist parties
The academic’s supporters have turned out in force for her previous court appearances in Edinburgh and a message on Defend Clara’s Facebook page reads: “Clara will appear in front of the court next Thursday, December 12 (yes, election day). So, we propose for people to go to vote and then come and join us in the gathering to show our support to our Professor Clara Ponsati.”
Ponsati is facing a charge of sedition, along with Puigdemont and Comin, who are also accused of misusing public funds. Puig faces a similar charge along with one of disobedience, and they will appear in a Belgian court next week.
Nine pro-Catalan independence leaders were jailed in October after a court found them guilty of sedition and imposed sentences of between nine and 13 years.
Negotiations will continue today between the Socialist (PSOE) party of would-be Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) over his investiture. Sanchez has already reached an agreement with the left-wing Podemos to form a coalition government after he failed to win an outright majority in Spain’s general election last month and found himself once again seeking friends among the pro-indy parties.
Representatives from Puigdemont’s party, Together for Catalonia (JxCat), have also met PSOE representatives in Spain’s Congress to discuss Sanchez’s investiture amid hopes that any negotiations with the Socialist government will include Catalonia’s right to self-determination.
Laura Borras, JxCat’s spokesperson in Congress, said: “The PSOE needs to invest Pedro Sanchez, because it is our mission to be able to find a solution for Catalonia.
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“And we have repeated that if you are looking for solutions for Catalonia you should keep in mind all the actors involved in the situation, all the independentist parties.
“Hardly any effective solution will be found leaving out the main group of the Parliament of Catalonia and who holds the presidency of the Generalitat [Catalan Government].”
Today’s talks between PSOE and ERC will be held in Barcelona, but ERC spokesperson Marta Vilalta said any agreement was unlikely before December 19, when the European Court of Justice will decide if Oriol Junqueras, the jailed ERC president who has been elected as a MEP, should have political immunity.
Vilalta said: “We have a calendar with events that affect everything, especially the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding Oriol Junqueras.
“And that is obvious that it could have an impact, before it is very difficult, there should be a lot of fast movement by the Spanish government.”
Also today, in Madrid, King Felipe will begin a round of talks with spokespeople from the parliamentary groupings, with a view to setting a date for the investiture of Sanchez.
The jailed leaders are expected to find out this week if the regimes under which they are jailed will be eased, which could see them only spend only their nights in prison.
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