UK Waives European Arrest Warrant For Catalan Politician Clara Ponsati - Reports

UK Waives European Arrest Warrant For Catalan Politician Clara Ponsati - Reports

The United Kingdom refused to process the European arrest warrant of Clara Ponsati, issued by Spain over her involvement in the Catalan independence referendum, Spanish media reported on Wednesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) The United Kingdom refused to process the European arrest warrant of Clara Ponsati, issued by Spain over her involvement in the Catalan independence referendum, Spanish media reported on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Spanish Supreme Court Justice Pablo Llarena issued arrest warrants � national, European and international � for three former Catalan cabinet ministers, including Ponsati, who served as education minister of Catalonia before fleeing to Scotland. She faces sedition charges, which landed nine other pro-independence Catalan politicians in jail last month.

"The European arrest warrant has been reviewed by a special lawyer on behalf of the UK National Crime Agency. We have determined that it is disproportionate to the UK law ... This arrest warrant has not been certified by the SIRENE bureau [Supplementary Information Request at the National Entries], and the UK will not take any further actions in relation to this matter," SIRENE said in a statement, obtained and quoted by the La Vanguardia newspaper.

The government of former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont left Spain immediately upon declaring Catalonia independent after a referendum in October 2017. Madrid responded by launching a massive campaign against whom they consider to be behind the separatist referendum.

In October, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled to sentence nine Catalan politicians to 9-13 years in prison on sedition charges and another three to fines over disobedience. The court issued European and international arrest warrants for Puigdemont. The rulings triggered a massive wave of violent public protests in Catalonia.