First it happened in Brussels, then in Copenhague and now it's happened in Geneva. After the patriotic fervour of recent hours and in the middle of the collective ecstasy over singer Marta Sánchez's lyrics for the Spanish national anthem, one of the few in the world with no official words, packed up in the media narrative was the new chapter in the fight against the Catalan independence movement: the arrest and extradition of former CUP deputy Anna Gabriel, resident in Switzerland for some weeks now. Goodness me! What European court is not going to believe that the accusations of sedition and rebellion put together by judge Pablo Llarena are not completely documented? That's what all the debates in Spanish media were saying on Tuesday and that's what, for example, ABC's editorial on Wednesday said: "Spain is obliged to request her extradition, whatever attempts she makes to deceive Swiss authorities requesting inadmissible political asylum".
This was supported hours later by the Spanish justice minister, Rafael Catalá, in the corridors of the Congress: "I see no reasons for Switzerland to not accept her extradition". And was rounded off by the public prosecutor in the Supreme Court asking judge Pablo Llarena mid-morning to issue a provisional arrest warrant and then to proceed to an international search and capture warrant, as a prior step to extradition. The only thing missing was the decision from the Supreme Court judge... which never came. He settled for asking for a domestic arrest warrant which, therefore, only has any consequences if she returns to Spain. It had all collapsed in a matter of hours and Anna Gabriel enjoys, for the moment, a situation similar to that of the exiles living in Belgium. With one drawback for the Spanish state: the set of countries they can travel to now doesn't only include Belgium and Denmark but also Switzerland.
Although the moves from the legal world are a long way from those that happen, for example, in the world of politics, and everything has to be dealt with with greater caution, it's worth highlighting two things: first, the house of cards consisting of the investigation into the 1st October referendum and the multiple accusations against all the suspects for the crimes of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds and disobedience is tending to fall apart in all except the last case. That's why the Supreme Court, for the moment, is taking aim but steering clear of actually leaving Spanish borders when asking for special legal measures. On the other hand, the policy of propagating the Catalan conflict and the violation of the fundamental rights of those under investigation, four of them in prison, is gaining international dimensions. That's not good news for Spanish authorities interested in the conflict not crossing the Pyrenees.
But, currently, the opposite is happening. New fronts are opening and a certain lack of movement is to be noticed when it comes to processing drastic legal measures involving other countries. Beyond propaganda, for today it doesn't look like a very promising scenario.