Carles Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, maintains that the former president and also an MEP will return to Catalonia before the end of the year. The day after the return of Clara Ponsatí, the lawyer insists on Puigdemont’s intention to return free from Belgium “sooner” rather than later, a possibility that his environment has been fueling in recent months. In statements to RAC1, Boye, who has not revealed the date of his return, has specified that his client is not “afraid” of being arrested, like the former ministers Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín.
Carles Puigdemont is awaiting the resolution of the General Court of the European Union (TGUE) on his immunity as a member of the European Parliament (also Ponsatí and Comín), which is expected to arrive in the coming weeks, a factor that could be decisive in his decision or not to return In any case, Boye is “convinced” that the return will take place during 2023. “We are working on it,” he pointed out.
Regarding whether Puigdemont could be arrested if he set foot on Catalan territory, as happened yesterday to Ponsatí, his lawyer does not rule it out, but points out that the former president – as well as Comín or the former Minister of Education – this “does not frighten them”. “They are not thinking about his personal situation,” Boye stressed, framing a possible return in a political strategy
Boye’s words of conviction about Puigdemont come the day after Clara Ponsatí returned, was arrested in Barcelona and released hours later. Boye, who is also a lawyer for the former minister (and currently an MEP), promises to start a legal battle after her arrest. She has advanced that the defense will raise the “timely legal actions”, among which, resort to habeas corpus and request protection from the Constitutional Court and inform the TGUE of the arrest.
The MEP for Junts returned to Brussels this morning to participate in this afternoon’s plenary session. Boye has denied that the session in the European Parliament was the reason for returning to Catalonia just yesterday. It was, the lawyer specified, due to “agenda issues” of both the ex-minister and his own.
Ponsatí is not considering, for the moment, going to testify before the Supreme Court on April 24, as Judge Llarena established yesterday. “He has no intention of appearing before a judge that is not the one established by law,” said the lawyer, who points out the incompetence of the Supreme Court in this case, alluding to the recent resolution of the CJUE. If the MEP is arrested to take her before the judge “it would be illegal”, as was, in her opinion, the actions of the Mossos yesterday. Precisely, regarding the Catalan police, he has recognized the “complex situation” in which he found himself, but has asked to focus on the Supreme Court, which is “who originated the situation.”
