Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has published a video in which he announces that he is going on his return trip to Spain to be present at the plenary session of Parliament this Thursday, which will have to vote on the investiture of the PSC leader as Salvador Illa chairman of the Generalitat.
“I have started my journey back from exile,” Puigdemont says in a film where he criticizes the obstacles that “some Supreme Court judges” are putting up to the application of the amnesty law.
Puigdemont says the announcement that a deputy will attend the plenary session should be “irrelevant”, but it is presented as an exceptional case: “Our situation is not that of democratic normality,” he says. He criticizes that he and Junts deputy Lluis Puig are also facing “prolonged harassment for having allowed Catalans to vote in the referendum” and because the Supreme Court refused to comply with the amnesty law.
At the same time that Puigdemont published his message, Junts per Catalunya has officially called for an “institutional reception” for Puigdemont at Paseo Lluís Companys in Barcelona tomorrow at 9 am.
Puigdemont’s welcoming ceremony aims to demonstrate widespread support for the independence movement. The private body Consell per la República, headed by Puigdemont, has also called on its followers, such as Émnium, the ANC and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI). The CUP also supports the mobilization.
In the video, a close-up shot shows Puigdemont with a serious expression and he is placed in front of the flags of Catalonia and Europe. With his announcement, Puigdemont revealed one of the questions that were raised about how his return to Catalonia would be organized, seven years after his departure to escape the action of justice. Junts says it is not a “personal return but a political return” former President He intends to stage an institutional appearance, surrounded by loyalists who will accompany him to the doors of Parliament. By calling for a mobilization, Puigdemont attempts to ensure some protection against a possible police arrest. An arrest warrant is still pending against him and the Mossos d’Esquadra have orders to detain him and hand him over to justice.
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