“I had no intention of surrendering myself to a judicial body that has no jurisdiction to persecute us (…) and no interest in achieving justice,” he explained in a video, but “intends to engage in politics.” The former president (2016-2017) of this wealthy region in northeastern Spain posted on social media in Catalan.
The separatist leader, who claims to have returned to the Belgian city of Waterloo, where he has lived in recent years, confirmed that on Thursday he intends to “enter parliament”. [regional] To attend the inauguration ceremony of the “President of the Catalan Executive” and to exercise “his right to speak (…) and vote” as an elected deputy in the recent regional elections.
“But from early this morning it was clear that the interior ministry had organised a police force to prevent me from entering parliament,” added Puigdemont, who eventually spoke to supporters in a nearby park before disappearing despite heavy security measures.
“In this context, trying to enter Parliament would mean certain arrest and I would have no possibility of speaking to the chamber, which was my goal. It would amount to voluntary surrender so that my arrest would be effective,” he added.
He continued that given this, “in the context of repression and comprehensive siege, returning to my residence in Belgium, here in Waterloo, has become the goal.”
The leader of the separatist party Junts per Catalunya (JxCAT, Together for Catalonia) stressed that he was aware of what he was “risking” and the “high costs of failure”.
He pointed out that “it was necessary to internationally denounce the Spanish state, which does not act democratically when it allows Supreme Court judges to mock the laws passed by its parliament.”
Puigdemont referred to the amnesty law passed by Spain’s Socialist government of Pedro Sánchez in exchange for its legislative support for separatists who took part in the illegal independence referendum held in Catalonia on October 1, 2017.
But in early July, a Spanish Supreme Court judge ruled that the pardon did not apply to the embezzlement charges against Puigdemont.
