Judge Llarena issues a national arrest warrant against Ponsatí after the sit-in at the Supreme Court “unjustifiably”

2023-06-21 15:40:17

The Supreme Court judge, Pablo Llarena, has issued a national arrest warrant against the former Catalan councilor and MEP of JxCat Clara Ponsatí for failing to justify her failure to appear on April 24, when he summoned her to notify her of her prosecution for a crime of disobedience in the “process”.

That day, the former counselor of the Catalan Government chaired by Carles Puigdemont did not go to the Supreme Court and alleged two commitments in Brussels “incompatible” with her summons in Madrid, an argument that, taking into account the rebellion that she has maintained in the five years that she was on the run of Justice, says Llarena in his order, reveals that “parliamentary functions are nothing but an excuse for a new neglect of their procedural obligations.”

national arrest warrant

Although she consulted the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office, who were inclined to summon Ponsatí again after her failure to appear, Llarena has ended up opting to issue a national arrest warrant against her so that she can make herself available to the court and be informed of her death. prosecution.

According to the judge, everything would indicate that Ponsatí “has voluntarily and unjustifiably neglected the court summons.” He qualifies that the order may be rendered null and void if he voluntarily appears before him, as did the defendants Meritxell Serret and Anna Gabriel, who also fled the country, but ended up returning to Spain.

Parliamentary obligations were compatible

Regarding the parliamentary obligations that she presented in order not to appear, Llarena points out that Ponsatí was summoned before the Supreme Court on the morning of April 24 and the political commitments that she alleged were scheduled for the afternoon, so they were compatible requesting an appearance by videoconference. In fact, he was cited with “a wide margin to warn” of his “difficulties” to “attend to his political responsibilities and request the readjustment in the citation” that, on the contrary, “this provision was evaded and he opted to present a exculpatory writing that has not been followed by any proposal to attend to the judicial appeal”.

In addition, Llarena alludes to some public statements made by the former counselor, in which “she boasted of having no intention of attending the court summons”, while recalling that Ponsatí left Spain “immediately after her possible intervention” in the “procés” and “he personally opposed the United Kingdom handing it over” to the Supreme Court “to answer for the responsibility that is being ventilated in this process.”

Llarena rejects Ponsatí’s request to paralyze the cause

Judge Llarena also rejects Ponsatí’s request to paralyze the case because there is a demand for protection of parliamentary immunities before the European Parliament.

Clara Ponsatí fled after the 2017 unilateral declaration of independence to avoid prosecution for the illegal referendum on October 1, on March 28 she crossed the French-Spanish border to return to Catalonia, without turning herself in to the authorities despite her arrest warrant .