Carles Puigdemont, 55, is a former journalist who worked for pro-independence media in Catalonia and headed the Catalan News Agency.After moving to politics, he became an MP and later mayor of Girona, north-east of Barcelona.
BERLIN: Catalonia’s former president Carles Puigdemont foiled attempts by Finnish police to arrest him under a European arrest warrant, after his lawyer confirmed on Saturday he had left the country.
Puigdemont’s lawyer announced the arrest on Twitter and said his client had been taken to a police station. German police confirmed in a statement that Puigdemont had been arrested at 11:19 a.m. Sunday by highway patrol officers in Schleswig-Holstein, the German state that borders Denmark.
A Spanish Supreme Court judge reactivated an international arrest warrant for him on Friday.Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed on Saturday it had received a European arrest warrant for “a Spanish citizen visiting Finland”. The NBI said they were unaware of the person’s location.
Puigdemont is wanted by Spain on charges of “rebellion” and “sedition” over his involvement in the Catalan referendum in October last year.The region unilaterally declared independence from Spain.
Spain on Friday also issued international arrest warrants for five other separatists, including four former ministers who are also in self-imposed exile in Belgium.
Catalonia is one of Spain’s wealthiest regions. The industrial northeastern dynamo’s drive for a split from Spain has led it to clash with the central government in Madrid, as well as the judiciary.
A referendum on secession last October was ruled illegal by the country’s Constitutional Court. Madrid says a declaration of independence runs against Spain’s 39-year-old constitution.
