Gonzalo Boye, lawyer to Clara Ponsatí, has confirmed that the Catalan MEP will not appear before Spain's Supreme Court this Monday. Boye recalled that Ponsatí had already announced that she had work to do this Monday and confirmed: "She has already arrived in Brussels or is on her way." In an interview with Catalonia's TV3, the lawyer commented that in this legal process the immunity held by Ponsatí due to her status as an elected European representative is not being respected.
Shortly after the lawyer confirmed that his client would not be turning up at the Supreme Court in Madrid as ordered, Ponsatí reaffirmed that she is in Belgium by sharing an image on social media with a short message: "It is raining in Flanders".
Plou a Flandes. pic.twitter.com/UCvcSmgF9d
— Clara Ponsatí (@ClaraPonsati) April 24, 2023
The pro-independence Catalan politician Clara Ponsatí had spent five years in exile, mostly in Scotland and Belgium, before she returned to Catalonia on March 28th. The MEP, protected by parliamentary immunity from detention, travelled to Barcelona, where she was arrested by the Mossos d'Esquadra police. Regarding the arrest, Boye remarked this morning that it was "illegal": "The crime of disobedience is a crime that does not entail prison and you cannot arrest a person for a crime without prison. The arrest was illegal and measures will be taken".
Work in Brussels
This Sunday, Clara Ponsatí travelled to Barcelona to enjoy her first Diada de Sant Jordi in Catalonia since 2017, and took part in an event at the Junts party office of its MEPs in the Catalan capital. Already at that time she stated, without giving details, that she had work in Brussels this Monday, although at that moment did not close the door to a journey to Madrid on Monday, saying: "You should never say 'I won't drink this water'. One day or another I'll go to Madrid. Or maybe not, you'll find out." However, finally, it has been confirmed that he has returned to her Belgian base, where she is participating today as a substitute in the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee from 3pm.
Boye's arguments
Defence lawyer Boye sent a document to Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena this morning in which he justifies Ponsatí's absence from the Supreme Court and asks him to cancel the summons of this Monday. In the document, Boye notes that after the Mossos d'Esquadra arrested Ponsatí last month in Barcelona, she lodged a request with the European chamber that it assert her parliamentary immunity, which has been sent to the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs. For this reason, the lawyer quotes jurisprudence to demands that the Spanish judge suspend the judicial proceedings against the MEP until the aforementioned request for protection is resolved. "There is an obligation of loyal cooperation between European institutions and national authorities," the document explains.
In addition to this, Boye also asserts that the MEP has duties in the European Parliament this Monday: attendance at the Industry, Research and Energy committee and the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee. The document explains that Ponsatí has the right to participate in the sessions and adds: "Logically, it is incompatible with any commitment of any kind hundreds of kilometres from Brussels." Finally, the lawyer claims that the judicial case against his client is "illegal" given that, as he asserts, the Supreme Court is not competent to judge it.