SPANISH Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is being urged to acknowledge that Catalan independence has gone global and that Spain’s actions are being monitored worldwide.
In a message to Rajoy, Finnish Centre Party MP Mikko Karna, who hosted exiled Catalan president Carles Puigdemont when he visited Finland, said: “Come down from your ivory tower and start international mediation process with #Catalonia immediately.”
Karna said Rajoy would have to face the consequences if he refused to act: “Rajoy must acknowledge that independence process of Catalonia has gone international and Spain’s every action is being monitored by citizens, politicians and human rights organisations across the globe.
“Rajoy must now let Catalonia go or face the dire consequences.
“People are starting to boycott Spanish products and do not want to travel to a country which treats its own Catalan citizens like this.”
Puigdemont is currently being held under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in Germany, where prosecutors are expected to decide today whether he should be extradited to Spain.
“However, Karna appealed to German politicians, including Justice Minister Katarina Barley.
“Barley is an expert in political conflict and referendums,” he said.
“She, of all people, knows that Spain has not respected laws and conventions of the EU during the Catalan independence process.
“I hope Barley finds the courage in her heart and speaks out loud against the extradition of Carles Puigdemont and for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Catalonia.”
His intervention came as lawyers for Puigdemont and Clara Ponsati, the St Andrews University academic and former Catalan education minister, along with culture Minister Lluís Puig, yesterday lodged an appeal at the Spanish Supreme Court.
Among the charges they face is one of rebellion, which can carry a sentence of 30 years.
Lawyer Jaume Alonso Cuevillas said: “We explain why there is no rebellion or embezzlement and we denounce various violations of procedural guarantees.”
He also claimed that the court was neither competent nor objective and argued a “lack of criminal relevance” because neither the call for the October referendum nor the subsequent declaration of independence fit any offence in the Spanish Penal Code.
German prosecutors could announce as early as today their response to Spain’s extradition request, but Ralph Dopper, deputy prosecutor general in Schleswig-Holstein, urged caution, adding: “Nothing can be advanced yet. It is a complex procedure.”
In an audio message recorded by German MP Diether Dehm during a visit to the prison, Puigdemont urged Catalans to continue to defend their rights: “Let’s go on doing things the way we do them, which is non-violent and civilised as we have shown the world in the past years.
“That is how Catalans do things.”
More than 30 protestors braved wintry weather outside the Spanish consulate in Edinburgh yesterday, before marching to the German consulate in support of the Catalan cause.
Samuel Cook, youth officer for Solidarity, who organised the event, said: “There was some snow, a biting wind and it was bitterly cold, so I’m pleased that we managed to attract as many people as we did.”
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